By Amber Bereznyckyj, a History and Creative Writing student at the New College of the Humanities
Boris Johnson officially resigned as the Conservative leader on Thursday morning. He will remain the Prime Minister until the Conservative Conference in October when a new leader will be announced. After another evening of resignations, including close allies of Boris Johnson, such as the Northern Ireland Secretary, Brandon Lewis, Mr Johnson has been served his ‘eviction’ notice. Newly appointed members of the Office held a meeting on Wednesday, asking the PM to leave with dignity. Michelle Donelan, appointed the Education Secretary two days ago, ‘pleaded’ with Mr Johnson ‘to do the right thing and resign for the sake of our country and our party, [which are] both…more important than any one person.’
Overall, 59 ministers and an unprecedented number of junior members of the Cabinet resigned. There are two main reasons for that, the string of recent scandals aside. The first is Boris Johnson’s lack of integrity. He has encouraged the dishonest management of the Northern Ireland treaty, risking Brexit relations with Europe. He also attempted to remove members of the Cabinet to replace them with his own allies. This included the dismissal of the previous Permanent Secretary of Education, Jonathan Slater and an unsuccessful attempt to expel Sir Graham Brady from the 1922 Committee (the Executive Committee of backbenchers, who represent the Conservative Party’s overall view). The second reason is that many Conservative parliamentarians were concerned about the planned tax cuts, which were supposed to help with the cost of living crisis. The Conservative Party, in their 12 years in power, has been on a bumpy road with a string of resignations since Brexit: Cameron, May and, now, Johnson. Labour is taking the Conservatives’ weakness to their advantage by calling for a snap election due to the public’s disenchantment with the current government. This is not difficult to believe considering their current lack of unity. Nevertheless, Keir Starmer remains less popular with the public and has so far failed to provide a solution to the cost of living crisis or the Ukrainian War. While the Conservative leadership is failing, there is still mass support for both the levelling-up scheme and foreign policy campaigns. This is why many of Mr Johnson’s potential successors, such as Suella Braverman, are leaning heavily on the 2019 manifesto rather than on the new policies. Furthermore, the Conservatives’ new tax reforms in response to the cost of living crisis may put them back in good favour. This means that the Conservatives may still find even footing, especially in the light of Mr Starmer’s false Jimmy Savile scandal, whereby he supposedly neglected to act on the dismissal of Mr Savile’s first court case. Although this has been disproven, such an association could still damage his reputation. Not to mention the ‘beergate’ investigation by Durham constabulary, which looks into the meal Mr Starmer had with seventeen other colleagues last April, during lockdown restrictions. As of today, the allegations cleared.
Due to this, the Conservative Party needs to pick an appropriate future leader for their party. With only two weeks before the summer recess, they must find two candidates to run. Many say that Dominic Raab will take the responsibility considering he acted as PM while Boris Johnson had Covid. However, the odds are calculated and here are the biggest players:
1. Rishi Sunak
Rishi Sunak has been the inner circle’s favourite since his rise of popularity during COVID. He seems to be the natural successor to Mr Johnson. However, this is not without controversy due to his fixed-penalty notice over party-gate and his wife’s, Akshata Murthy, recent tax scandal. Because of this, he is now associated with the sleeze of Johnson. While Mr Sunak declared his wife’s non-domicile status to the Cabinet and the Treasury when he first became a minister, the British public still views this as tax evasion. This is because the British taxpayer would pay 39.35% tax on the finances of Akshata Murty, while she does not. Given that Mr Sunak built a Thatcherite tax revolution declaration, this contradicts his message. Mr Sunak’s resignation may have saved him, and if the party believes that they can clear Mr Sunak’s image, he may still have a shot. After Mr Sunak’s long ride with Mr Johnson, it is unclear whether Mr Sunak even wants the role. As of today, he does not seem to be campaigning and has not made any statement regarding that.
2. Liz Truss
The Foreign Secretary is currently at a G20 event in Indonesia and is expected to make a speech ‘shortly’. Popular within the party for her grassroots politics, Ms Truss has remained humble in this week’s events. Many are waiting to see if she will step up. The Johnson loyalists support her because of her quick actions on sanctioning Russian Oligarchs in response to the situation in Ukraine and her enthusiasm for Thatcherite policies.
3. Jeremy Hunt
Since his loss of the 2019 Conservative Leadership to Mr Johnson, Hunt has been on the backbenchers. During the pandemic, he was the Chairman of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, having seen all the failings of Mr Johnson’s COVID response. He told Times magazine that due to this, he ‘did not rule out a return in the future’. While he was a favourite with the backbenchers, he has been criticised for lacking ‘boldness’ and action in the light of other candidates approaching to run for leadership. This is especially the case with his biggest supporter in the 2019 leadership election, Penny Mordaunt, who is now running with great success.
4. Penny Mordaunt
Penny Mordaunt is the bookie’s favourite today. Once Jeremy Hunt’s biggest supporter, Ms Mordaunt is now running herself. She has grown in notoriety for her criticisms concerning the party-gate scandal. A survey done by the Conservative Homes organisation shows that amongst the Tory party members, Ms Mordaunt is the second favourite behind Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defense.
5. Tom Tugendhat
The underdog of the season, Mr Tugendhat is a part of the ‘One Nation,’ centralist faction. He is the Chairman of the cross-party House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. He is the voice of the opposition against Mr Johnson and he is viewed as a new fighter for reforming the Conservative Party. However, he has never held a position within the Cabinet and tends to focus more on foreign policy, which is a concern for many considering the cost of living crisis. Since many MPs believe that the backbenchers have been swinging too much towards the far right in recent months, Mr Tugendhat could balance this out as a charismatic centralist. His lack of involvement in Johnson’s Cabinet could be an advantage in the leadership race. Mr Tugendhat could wipe the slate clean for the Conservatives.
This is the end of a very messy chapter, and while some see Mr Johnson as a martyr for Brexit, others see it as inevitable. Integrity and democracy must return to Britain, for who are we without them?
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