LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) – Britain’s former finance minister Rishi Sunak maintained his lead in the race to become Britain’s next prime minister on Monday as another challenger was eliminated, leaving four candidates in a race. increasingly bitter to replace Boris Johnson.
Sunak won 115 votes in the third vote of Conservative lawmakers on Monday, ahead of former defense minister Penny Mordaunt with 82 and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss with 71.
Since Johnson said he would resign earlier this month after his scandal-plagued administration lost the support of many in his ruling Conservative Party, the race to replace him has taken a nasty turn with several contenders targeting leader Sunak.
Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
He has faced criticism on everything from his record in government to his wife’s wealth, from those vying to reach a runoff between the final two candidates, with Foreign Secretary Truss and Mordaunt, currently a minister. trade minions, your most likely opponents
Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Tugendhat, a former soldier and critic of Johnson who has never had a government role, was eliminated from the leadership race on Monday after receiving the fewest votes with 31.
Former Equality Minister Kemi Badenoch came fourth in the vote with 58 votes.
The 358 lawmakers from the ruling Conservative Party will narrow the field down to the bottom two this week, eliminating the candidate with the fewest votes each time. The results of the next vote will be known at 1400 GMT on Tuesday.
The new prime minister will be announced on September 1. 5, after the 200,000 members of the Conservative Party cast their ballots by post over the summer.
VIGOROUS DEBATE
The race has been on commitments or no commitments to cut taxes, at a time when the British economy is beset by spiraling inflation, high debt and low growth that have left people with the tightest finances. in decades.
Truss has also been criticized for saying she would change the mandate of the Bank of England. read more
In a televised debate on Sunday, the candidates attacked each other over their records, with Truss and Sunak walking out of a third debate planned for Tuesday, amid concern among Conservatives that the candidates would attack their party colleagues. . read more
“The nature of the Conservative Party is to have a vigorous debate and then come together once a new leader is selected. I have no doubt the same will happen this time around,” former Conservative minister David Jones told Reuters.
Sunak extended his lead over Mordaunt, who lost support and recorded one vote less than in the second round.
Bookmaker Ladbrokes said on Monday that Truss, who got seven more votes in round three than in round two, was now the second favourite, ahead of Mordaunt but behind Sunak.
The Truss campaign tried to buttress its case for lower taxes by citing a report from the Center for Business and Economic Research, a private-sector think tank, that showed there was more wiggle room from higher tax revenues.
But a senior Bank of England official, Michael Saunders, rejected his suggestion that the government should set a “clear direction of travel” for monetary policy, saying it is better to leave the foundations of Britain’s framework intact. read more
“The government clearly doesn’t set the direction of travel for monetary policy,” Saunders, one of nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee that sets interest rates, said at a Resolution Foundation event in London.
Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Elizabeth Piper, Kylie MacLellan, Alistair Smout, David Milliken, and Andy Bruce, editing by Hugh Lawson, William James, and Toby Chopra
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
