Tory Leadership Contest #2

Rishi Sunak is officially standing as a contender for the next PM, after having late night talks with Boris Johnson amidst rumours he plans to stand himself.

Both candidates need 100 MPs to support them before Monday. Sunak was said to be waiting for Johnson's announcement, as he would have sided with him instead.

Sunak has a lot of high profile support in the form of Savid Javid, Dominic Raab and Grant Shapps. His campaign is running on fixing the economy and ensuring accountability at every level of government, which is of importance given that he was involved in the Partygate scandal.

Also in the race is Penny Mordaunt, who came third in the Conservative Leadership contest earlier this year. Mordaunt's appeal as a leader is based on her being a fresh start for Downing Street; whereas Sunak was part of the government that held numerous parties.

Johnson has just announced that he is not standing for the Leadership contest, after reports that Mordaunt refused to drop out of the race after he asked her to. Reports say he had 102 nominations, which would have allowed him to challenge Sunak, who has over 100.

Tomorrow, the nominations will close, and if Mordaunt has over 100 nominations from Tory MPs, she will go head to head with Sunak in televised hustings, with the PM revealed on Friday. If she fails to meet the threshold, Sunak becomes PM. Johnson's announcement means his supporters will rally behind either candidate, which could boost Mordaunt's support and give her the backing to challenge Sunak.

Sunak is the favourite to win, having come second in the last race and having so many high profile Conservative MPs back him. However, if Mordaunt meets the threshold and the vote later goes to the wider Conservative Party membership, Sunak could lose to her, as he has proven to be more popular with the MPs rather than the members.

Tomorrow, we will find out whether Sunak will become PM outright, or face Mordaunt in a battle for the premiership.

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*Header photo obtained from: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-13/sunak-wins-first-round-of-tory-contest-to-succeed-boris-johnson all rights reserved