favorites to succeed Johnson

[La cadena de mentiras con la que se ha ahorcado Boris Johnson]

The United Kingdom will remain in the hands of whoever the Conservative Party designates and the press and bookmakers already seem to have narrowed down the search. These are the leaders best positioned to replace Johnson:

nadhim zahawi

He was appointed Finance Minister this very week to replace Rishi Sunak. 48 hours later, he addressed a letter to Johnson inviting him to “do the right thing and leave” as the best solution “for the Conservative Party and for the whole country.” At 55 years old, he has limited political experience, but has worked hard in the shadows and known how to move to show himself as a weighty and alternative profile in the tory.

Zahawi wants to transcend as an executioner, but few understand that before he agreed to join a government whose leader he did not believe. The explanation may lie in the fact that from within it was easier to finish off Johnson, whom on the other hand he had supported until not too long ago on the partygate.

He first entered the government as head of vaccination against Covid-19, later as Secretary of Education. In the party they do not doubt that he will run as his successor, nor of his favoritism.

Zahawi also has a particular story, almost like a movie. She emigrated to the UK at the age of 11. He fled with his family from Iraq in 1978, in full persecution of the Kurdish minority by the regime of Saddam Hussein. After having a hard time with his studies, to adapt, he began to carve out a future as a commercial agent. In 2000 he co-founded YouGov, a renowned international market research and analysis firm that operates in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

Liz Truss

Foreign Secretary, she has never hidden her ambition to lead the Conservatives. She has been a parliamentarian since 2010 and had a meteoric rise at the hands of david cameronoccupying different responsibilities in his cabinet, such as the Environment and Justice Secretariats.

She is a beloved and influential leader among her colleagues and among the militants, forceful in her positions even when she changes them, as happened when in 2016 she defended remaining in the European Union and later and with the same vehemence the need to leave it.

Your referent is Margaret Thatcher and one of his daughters is called Liberty. ‘Freedom’ is her flag word. An official tory he defined it as “Thatcherism on steroids”. Truss learned of Johnson’s resignation in Bali, Indonesia, where he was attending the G20 summit. At 46, he may be in for the opportunity of a lifetime.

Penny Mordaunt

Mordaunt, 49, has to his credit having supported Jeremy Hunt in the process for the conservative leadership in 2019, although that factor did not weigh for Johnson to have her at the head of Commerce given her career. She has exercised with loyalty but not without criticism, and since the first information that led to the partygate expressed his “anger” with those who ignored the restrictions against the Covid while rejecting “reasonable requests to relax the measures”.

Mordaunt, defender of ‘Brexit’ and key to her ending up triumphing in the referendum, has indisputable leadership qualities and charisma, reasons that Johnson could not ignore when deciding if he had her. A former Royal Navy Reservist, she has been a Member of Parliament since 2010. Her government duties begin with May, as Defense Secretary.

In the recent Conservative confidence vote to remove Johnson from power, Mordaunt was ambiguous, saying only that she did not choose him.

Rishi Sunak

“I am sad to leave the Government, but I have come to the conclusion that we cannot continue like this,” Sunak, 42, announced just a few hours ago, resigning from the Treasury Secretariat. For him, or so he claims, good behavior “does matter” and that is why he distanced himself from Johnson’s lack of “seriousness and lack of competence”.

Interestingly, Sunak participated in one of the parties that have ended up condemning Johnson and was also very close to costing him his job in a dust storm closely related to these standards of conduct that he advocates. His wife, the Indian billionaire Akshata Murtyhas been under the UK non-resident tax regime for years, despite residing at 11 Downing Street at that time.

Like Truss, he is identified with the Thatcher legacy and wields great weight among Conservative voters with the slogan of lowering taxes. His popularity was reinforced by his employment and investment protection plan during the pandemic and recently by his action to try to alleviate the high cost of living for citizens.

He was previously head of the Treasury, in 2019, after a remarkable career in the House of Commons since 2015. He came from the world of finance, with positions, among others, at Goldman Sachs.

Raised in the city of Southampton (South English), Sunak, of Hindu religion, is the grandson of immigrants from the Indian region of Punjab, who arrived in the country in the 1960s. He graduated in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford.

[El informe del ‘Partygate’ pide “responsabilidades” a Downing Street: “Vómitos, borracheras y altercados”]

David and Wallace

The above are the four leaders who lead the bets -in the literal sense- in the British press and major international media, but they are not the only ones with the profile and weight to lead the Conservatives and the United Kingdom.

Cannot be omitted from the list Sajid Javid, Secretary of Health, who said goodbye to the Government with “enough is enough”. Along with Zahawi, he dealt the final blow to Johnson because after them the executive positions did not stop falling. The 52-year-old has already run twice to lead the party: in 2016, after the ‘Brexit’ referendum, and in 2019. In his favor, being Johnson’s executioner; against him, this very thing, being Johnson’s executioner, a betrayal that the supporters of the fallen prime minister will not forget in the primaries.

Also in the triplet ben wallace, Secretary of Defense, previously responsible for Security and deputy since 2010. Wallace has gained weight for his work since the war broke out in Ukraine. He is one of the most loved and with the best image today, but also the one who seems to have the least intention and team. A YouGov survey, the brand co-founded by Zahawi, puts him ahead of Mordaunt.