Now the Tory party members decide in a second round. On September 5, a decision will be made on who will succeed Johnson at Downing Street. The vote became necessary because Johnson resigned as party leader two weeks ago under massive pressure from a parliamentary group.
In all rounds of voting in the parliamentary group, the largest number of parliamentarians voted for Sunak. However, the 42-year-old, who also appeals to the center of the party, is internally controversial. Above all, the conservative right wing around Truss accuses Sunak of being responsible for the biggest tax hikes in recent decades.
Current Prime Minister Johnson is also considered an opponent: those around him have accused the former Chancellor of the Exchequer of having betrayed the head of government by instigating Johnson’s downfall with his resignation. Sunak rejects this. The result of a poll by the YouGov polling institute among conservative party members on Tuesday also brought him bad news. Thus, he must lose in the second round.
Time and again, Sunak’s prosperity causes criticism. The once-successful banker and husband of the daughter of an Indian billionaire has no idea how normal people are, argue his critics. Truss, on the other hand, who has the prospect of far-reaching tax breaks, had to hear Sunak say she was spreading “economic fairy tales” because she had no plans on how to fund her pledges. Furthermore, the 46-year-old, who once championed the Liberal Democrats and comes from a left-wing family, voted against leaving the EU in the 2016 referendum. Even more recently, she has presented herself as an ardent supporter of Brexit. In the end, she even managed to surpass Brexit icon Mordaunt, whose overly liberal views on gender issues were fatal.
For both prime ministerial candidates, their time as cabinet members in Johnson’s administration is likely to be a difficult legacy. The outgoing prime minister once again defended his political legacy during the latest question time in Parliament on Wednesday. “We have rebuilt our democracy and restored our independence,” Johnson said Wednesday of the departure from the EU, which he was instrumental in driving and implementing. Labor leader Keir Starmer, on the other hand, gave him scathing testimony. “Inflation is back this morning and millions are struggling with the cost of living crisis and he’s decided to come out of his gold-walled bunker one last time and tell us everything is fine,” said Starmer, who also previously spoke with Johnson. as a “beast”.
No matter who emerges victorious from the duel to succeed Johnson, it will be difficult to follow in his footsteps. In the polls, the largest opposition party, Labor, is in the lead and, even in their strongholds, the Conservatives have recently suffered serious bankruptcies. As a supporter of Brexit, Johnson has managed to attract large sections of the workforce. Neither Sunak nor Truss are likely to succeed to the same extent. Surprisingly, Johnson hinted that there might be a comeback for him one day. As he left Parliament on Wednesday, he ended with a quote from the Terminator film series: “Hasta la vista, Baby.”
In the race for his successor, party members now have the say. However, it is unclear how many there are at the moment. In the previous party leader election in 2019, when Johnson prevailed, there were around 160,000 members. Early next week, the BBC wants to broadcast a TV duel between the last two candidates, which the candidates have already agreed to.