Britain’s Conservative Party to elect new leader in November

Jul 23. () –

The Conservative Party confirmed on Tuesday that it will elect its new leader in November and that it will begin a three-month process this week to replace Rishi Sunak, who resigned after the electoral debacle at the beginning of the month, when Labour won a landslide victory.

Sunak will continue to serve as acting leader of the Tories while an internal election takes place. Although no one has officially announced the outcome, it is expected that former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Dave Priti Patel, Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly, Shadow Security Secretary Tom Tugendhat and Shadow Communities Secretary Kemi Badenoch will stand, according to a report by the British television channel BBC.

Candidates will be able to register next Wednesday and will need the support of at least ten MPs to get into the first round of voting, which will whittle the field down to four. They will then be able to speak to party members ahead of the Tory conference on 29 September, when two people will be chosen to face off in a final vote held online on 31 October.

The new Conservative leader will be tasked with rebuilding a party that collapsed in the last elections after remaining in power for 14 years and which has culminated in several internal disputes due to discontent with Sunak’s management at the head of the British government.