Former British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak will find out early Monday afternoon whether he will face an opponent in the race for Downing Street or will be appointed immediately to replace Liz Truss as Prime Minister, the day after the spectacular resignation of Boris Johnson.
Will Rishi Sunak be the only one to exceed the threshold of 100 Conservative MP sponsorships required in the race, synonymous with immediate coronation?
The ax is due to fall shortly after 2 p.m. local time (9 a.m. EDT). And as the deadline approaches, the camp of Penny Mordaunt, the only other declared candidate, claims to have gathered 90 supporters – against around 30 known supporters according to the media – and calls on the Conservative MPs to join her, so that members have “their say”.
Indeed, it is only if two candidates are in the running that the 170,000 members of the Conservative party will be consulted to choose the next head of government by Friday.
In a spectacular reversal, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Sunday evening that he was giving up running, due to divisions within the majority.
“You can’t govern effectively if you don’t have a united party in parliament,” he said, nearly three months after leaving Downing Street.
His renunciation paves the way for the victory of Rishi Sunak, 42, unsuccessful candidate this summer against Liz Truss, ephemeral Prime Minister who resigned after only 44 days in power, victim of the financial storm caused by his plans for tax cuts massive.
“Integrity, professionalism and responsibility”
The grandson of immigrants of Indian origin with a career in the British elite, Rishi Sunak, a very wealthy former banker, would then be the first non-white to lead the British government.
He continues to garner support on Monday, notably from Boris Johnson loyalists, such as former Interior Minister Priti Patel, and is supported by more than half of the 357 “Tory” MPs according to the media.
During an intense weekend of negotiations, Mr. Sunak announced his candidacy on Sunday. “I want to fix our economy, unite our party and act for our country,” he said on Twitter, promising in a tackle to Boris Johnson “integrity, professionalism and responsibility”.
Rishi Sunak could be crowned on Monday, in the middle of the Hindu festival of Diwali, to become the fifth prime minister since the Brexit referendum of 2016, which opened a page of unprecedented economic and political turbulence in the United Kingdom.
The former Chancellor, guardian of budgetary orthodoxy and workaholic, seduces a large part of his camp while the country is going through a severe economic and social crisis, with inflation at more than 10% and strikes which are multiplying.
Johnson sets date
The situation has continued to deteriorate in recent months as the government was paralyzed by the successive upheavals agitating the majority and was further aggravated by the mistakes of Liz Truss which destabilized the markets and caused the pound to fall.
Mr. Sunak had regularly denounced Liz Truss’ economic plan this summer and he appears to be a reassuring figure for the British markets.
Always sure of himself, Boris Johnson, 58, said he was convinced that he would have had, if he had chosen to be a candidate, “a good chance […] to return to Downing Street”. He announced his resignation in July, cornered by dozens of resignations in his government, including that of Mr. Sunak.
Returning on Saturday from vacation in the Caribbean to garner support, Boris Johnson claimed 102 sponsorships of deputies necessary to present himself, a figure greeted with caution as it exceeds the rallies publicly expressed. He said he was “well placed” to lead his camp, in power for 12 years, during the next legislative elections scheduled for two years.
Largely in force in the polls, the Labor opposition is relentlessly calling for early elections.
“The Tories are about to hand Rishi Sunak the keys to the country without him saying a word how he will govern,” Labor deputy leader Angela Rayner tweeted, “nobody voted for that “.
But according to Interior Minister Grant Shapps, one of Rishi Sunak’s supporters, he intends to stick to the conservative program of the end of 2019, promising in particular a rebalancing for disadvantaged areas.