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Secretary of State Liz Truss is running for prime minister
Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has announced her candidacy to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Tories.
"I will fight like a conservative and govern like a conservative in this election," Truss said in an op-ed for the Telegraph newspaper.
The candidature of the 46-year-old had been expected.
This brings the number of candidates in the race to succeed Johnson to ten.
Trade Secretary Penny Mordaunt also announced her candidacy on Sunday.
This means that there are five members from the current government who are applying.
A new party leader could be determined on September 5, as the newspaper further reported.
Prime Minister Johnson announced his resignation on Thursday after massive pressure from his party.
However, he intends to remain in office until a successor has been chosen.
The opposition, on the other hand, is demanding Johnson's immediate exit and a new election.
There are also corresponding voices in his Conservative Party.
The Tories have a clear majority in Parliament.
Whoever becomes party leader also becomes prime minister.
Mordaunt emphasised: “Our leadership needs to change.
It has to be less about the person at the top and much more about the ship.« The 49-year-old has made a name for herself as a vehement Brexit supporter and is very popular with the party base.
In addition to her, Secretary of State Truss, Treasury Secretary Nadhim Zahawi, Secretary of Transport Grant Shapps and General Counsel Suella Braverman are also applying from the current cabinet.
The bookmakers' favorite at the moment is ex-Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, who has the backing of several influential Tories.
He is an example of how torn the party is.
Some praise the 42-year-old for his measures to combat the pandemic.
The others slander the politician, who would be the first prime minister with Asian roots, as a socialist.
Although he resisted for a long time, Sunak had enacted an additional tax on profits from energy companies in the fight against skyrocketing costs.
The other candidates
Other candidates include ex-Health Secretary Sajid Javid and former Secretary of State Kimi Badenoch, who resigned last week in protest at Johnson's leadership style.
However, like Sunak and the candidate ministers, they are accused of remaining silent on Johnson's numerous scandals for far too long.
Applicant Jeremy Hunt, once Secretary of State and Health, stressed that he had never served in Johnson's cabinet.
This also applies to the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament, Tom Tugendhat, a proven Johnson critic.
"I'm sure we'll get a few more candidates before we end the nomination phase on Monday, and then the selection process will begin," Geoffrey Clifton-Brown of the relevant party committee told LBC broadcaster.
Media had previously reported that the application period ended on Tuesday.
The 358 members of the Tory parliamentary group then determine two candidates in several ballots, in which the candidates with the fewest votes are always eliminated.
This is to be done by Parliament's summer recess on July 21, Clifton-Brown said.
Finally, the party members decide on the winner in a run-off election.
At the center of the election campaign are questions about tax cuts to relieve consumers in the face of skyrocketing inflation, how to deal with the EU after Brexit and immigration policy.
kfr/dpa/AFP