Brexit fate in balance as race begins to succeed Theresa May
Five leading Tory figures have declared their intention to contest the leadership election after PM May announced her June 7 resignation on Thursday, with the fate of Brexit up in the air.
Five leading Tory figures – three current and two former cabinet ministers – have declared their intention to contest the leadership election after Prime Minister Theresa May announced her June 7 resignation on Thursday, with the fate of Brexit up in the air.
Since there is no change in parliamentary arithmetic, the new leader and prime minister of the minority Conservative government will face similar Brexit-related challenges as May. How each contenders promise to push the Brexit process forward will be key to the outcome of the leadership election.
Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson is the bookies’ favourite, while other contenders so far are foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, health secretary Matt Hancock, international development secretary Rory Stewart and former works and pensions secretary Esther McVey.
Johnson has already declared that if elected, he would ensure that the UK leaves the EU with or without a deal on October 31. The contenders began setting up their stall on the issue, and whether they would push for another referendum, mid-term election, hard or soft Brexit.
Hancock, who announced his candidature on Saturday, ruled out a snap general election – as demanded by Labour – to resolve the Brexit stalemate, saying it would be “disastrous for the country” and would risk seeing the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in power “by Christmas”.
He told BBC: “We need to move on from the horrible politics of the last three years. We need a fresh start and a fresh face to ensure this country wins the battles of the 2020s and remains prosperous for many years to come.”
Stewart was critical in radio interviews of Johnson, who does not rule out leaving the EU without a deal, the worst-case scenario due to its potential debilitating impact on the British economy. Stewart is unlikely to serve under Johnson, if the latter is elected.
He said: “It pains me to say it. Boris has many, many qualities but I talked to him a few days ago and I thought he had said to me that he was not going for a no-deal exit”.
“He has now come out and said yesterday that he is going for something which I believe is undeliverable, unnecessary and is going to damage our country and economy.”
Besides the current five contenders, others likely to enter the race include home secretary Sajid Javid. Conservative MPs have until June 10 to put their name forward. MPs will vote if there are more than three candidates, with those with lowest votes eliminated, until two remain.
Then, nearly 1.25 lakh members of the Conservative party will vote on the two candidates to decide the winner, who will be the next party leader and prime minister.
Also read | Theresa May becomes second UK PM to resign over Brexit
