On Monday, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss announced her candidacy to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister, bringing the total number of contenders to 11.
Truss, who has held ministerial positions in several government agencies, including commerce, justice, and finance, promised to decrease taxes while maintaining a harsh stance against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The election came after one of the most unusual periods in contemporary British political history, during which more than 50 cabinet officials and advisers resigned, criticising Johnson’s moral character, honesty, and lack of candour.
The party wants to speed up the election process because many lawmakers don’t want the discredited Johnson to stay in office until a replacement is selected.
By July 21, lawmakers must narrow the field of contenders down to two, and then over the summer, the 200,000 members of the Conservative Party will vote by mail.
The procedure would be completed on Monday evening, according to Bob Blackman, a Conservative lawmaker who serves on the executive of the 1922 Committee, which establishes the rules. He anticipated that contenders would initially need to receive a specific amount of support from MPs before additional votes would determine the final two.
He told the BBC that, for the Tuesday and Wednesday stages, ‘(they) will start to have to require 20 MPs (members of parliament) to get on the ballot paper and 36 to move through to the second round.’
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