London: Former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak cemented his lead over rivals to become Britain’s next Prime Minister on Thursday in an increasingly bitter race to replace Boris Johnson.
Sunak, with 101 votes, maintained his lead over Trade Secretary Penny Mordaunt, who polled 83 votes in her favour. In the first round on Wednesday, he had got 88 votes, with Mordaunt in second place with 67 votes.
Final outcome by sept 5
- Subsequent ballots will eliminate candidate with fewest votes each time, to whittle the field down to a final two by July 21
- The new leader will then be chosen from those two by the country’s 200,000 Conservative Party members, and will be announced on September 5
Sunak, 42, is firmly placed as the candidate to beat in the race, after he received the backing of former Cabinet Minister Jeremy Hunt, who was last placed with 18 votes.
There are now five hopefuls, after Brexit supporter Attorney General Suella Braverman was knocked out of the race on Thursday for failing to reach the 30-vote threshold in the second round.
Whoever gets the job will take on rocketing inflation and low economic growth, as well as the public’s lack of confidence in politics after Johnson’s scandal-ridden time in power. After maintaining his lead Sunak thanked supporters, and said on Twitter: “I am prepared to give everything I have in service to our nation. Together we can restore trust, rebuild our economy and reunite the country.”
Earlier, he took to the airwaves to say his first economic priority would be tackling high inflation, not the tax cuts pledged by his rivals.
Sunak, who resigned as Chancellor and set off events in motion that ended in the resignation of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister last week, stressed that he was the “best person” to beat the Opposition in the next election.