Sunak joins race for UK prime ministership

London — Former finance minister Rishi Sunak, the favourite to become Britain’s next prime minister, started his campaign on Tuesday, promising "honesty” in an increasingly testy and divisive battle to succeed Boris Johnson.

An initial 11 candidates put their names forward to become leader of the governing Conservative Party and the UK’s next premier after Johnson was forced to step down when his support drained after a series of scandals.

Only those who get nominations from 20 of their 358 Conservative colleagues in parliament on Tuesday will go forward to the first vote on Wednesday. The field will be then be quickly whittled down a final two, with party  members making the final decision.

Transport minister Grant Shapps became the first to end his bid, throwing his support behind Sunak, whose resignation helped provoke the revolt by ministers and Conservative MPs that forced Johnson to resign last week.

The new leader faces a busy in-tray as well as falling opinion poll support. The economy is facing rocketing inflation, high debt and low growth, with people battling the tightest squeeze on their finances in decades, all set against a backdrop of an energy crunch worsened by the war in Ukraine which has sent fuel prices soaring.

As the contest heats up, rival campaigns are stepping up private criticism of each other and pointed to either financial or other questions hanging over their opponents.

Most candidates say they would cut taxes if they win, while Sunak, the current bookmakers’ favourite, has sought to portray himself as the serious candidate, promising "grown up” honesty "not fairy tales”.

"It is not credible to promise lots more spending and lower taxes,” he said.

As finance minister, Sunak set Britain on course for its biggest tax burden since the 1950s, and the other prime ministerial hopefuls have turned their fire on him over tax, with most saying they would oversee cuts immediately.

But Sunak said he didn’t want to distance himself from the fiscal decisions he made during the Covid-19 pandemic. "Whilst that may be politically inconvenient for me, it is also the truth. As is the fact that once we’ve gripped inflation, I will get the tax burden down,” he said. "It is a question of when, not if.”

'SOUND MONEY'

Sunak has the widest support among colleagues who have publicly expressed their view, including the backing of Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab.

"I know that Rishi has got what it takes,” Raab said, introducing Sunak at his campaign launch event.

Penny Mordaunt, a junior trade minister who is also heavily tipped, topped a poll of Conservative members on Monday. She, too, has tried to strike a more measured tone,  saying that while she would cut taxes.

"I will pioneer sound money. I am a small-state, low-tax conservative, but I also believe we need to use the levers of government to support jobs and livelihoods through difficult economic situations,” she wrote in the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Among the others to launch their campaigns on Tuesday were Tom Tugendhat, chair of the foreign affairs committee, and Kemi Badenoch, a former junior minister who is scooping up some support on the right wing of the party.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was also hoping to challenge and received the backing on Tuesday of two ministers closest to Johnson — Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg — who have both been critical of Sunak.

On Monday, the 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs agreed the rules for the contest, saying the field will soon be whittled down with repeated votes in the next few weeks and the final two being presented to the party by July 21.

It said the winner, and new prime minister, would be announced on September 5.

The main opposition Labour Party will table a motion of no confidence in the government on Tuesday to try to force Johnson out of office immediately.  The vote will be held on Wednesday and though some Conservatives have voiced concern at Johnson remaining as caretaker prime minister, they are very unlikely to support it.

The new leader will have to reverse evaporating support. A survey by Savanta ComRes on Monday put Labour at 43% compared with 28% for the Conservatives, its biggest poll lead since 2013.

Reuters