Who of Liz Truss, the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, or Rishi Sunak, the former Minister of Finance will succeed Boris Johnson ? The 160,000 or so members of the British Conservative Party receive their ballot from Monday, August 1 and will have to decide. They have until September 2 to express their choice in a postal vote. The result is expected on September 5.
It is a fight that is being played out on the right of the political spectrum, and sometimes even very on the right. The profile of the voter: a rather old white man, economically ultra-liberal and very traditional on social issues. And in this game, Liz Truss is the favorite in the polls. She is clearly the most right-wing, promising in particular drastic tax cuts “from day one”. Rishi Sunak, on the contrary, is more reserved, explaining that the economic situation requires caution. He first wants to settle the issue of inflation, which is at a record level for 40 years at almost 10%, before considering reducing taxes.
Liz Truss entered government in 2012 and chain from wallets. First Secretary of State for Education, then notommed by David Cameron, Secretary of State for the Environment. She then became the first Minister of Justice before being Chief Secretary of the Treasury from 2017 to 2019 in the governments of Theresa May.
At 47, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has an atypical career. She comes from a Labor family in the North of the country, the opposite of her ideas today. Throughout her career, she did not hesitate to deny herself. As a student, she was an activist in the Liberal Democrats, she demanded the legalization of cannabis and the abolition of the monarchy. It is far from its positions today. In 2016, she campaigned against Brexit. Once the exit from Europe was recorded by the referendum, she became one of its most fervent defenders.
Liz Truss remained faithful to Boris Johnson until the end and without saying it openly, “BoJo” helps her behind the scenes. Especially since Rishi Sunak precipitated the fall of the British Prime Minister by resigning on July 5. Aged 42, this son of Indian immigrants from Southampton is younger in politics – he has only been an MP for Yorkshire since 2015. Previously, he had a career in finance at Goldman Sachs and then in a hedge fund. Rishi Sunak does not want an interventionist state but had to do violence to itself during the pandemic to help companies, businesses, individuals, thus tarnishing its ultra-liberal image that it is now trying to restore.