Possible replacements for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have been quick to differentiate themselves from an increasingly crowded field.
Johnson announced his resignation Thursday after more than 50 ministers and lower-level officials resigned in protest of his conduct.
The next party leader will automatically become prime minister without a general election.
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An influential Conservative Party committee is expected to set the rules for the leadership contest on Monday.
The camp is expected to be reduced to two before parliament is adjourned for the summer break on July 21st.
Party members across the country will vote on the final option before the end of August.
Johnson has said he will remain prime minister until his successor is elected.
Here are all the ones we know are in the race so far.
Jeremy Hunt
Hunt says he will offer a less controversial leadership style. (AP: Matt Dunham)
The former Secretary of State was second only to Johnson in the 2019 leadership contest.
He voted to expel Mr. Johnson in a vote of confidence last month and supported staying in the EU in the 2016 Brexit vote.
Hunt said in a weekend interview that he wanted to “restore confidence, grow the economy and win the next election.”
“I am the only major candidate who has not served in the Boris Johnson government,” he told The Telegraph.
“I said what was wrong long before any of the other big contenders and I haven’t been defending the indefensible.”
Rishi Sunak
Sunak was one of the first to announce his candidacy for leadership. (AP: Daniel Leal / Pool)
The former Chancellor of the Treasury pledged to tackle the difficult economic scenario with “honesty, seriousness and determination” in a campaign video released Friday.
Sunak was appointed chancellor (equivalent to the Australian treasurer) in early 2020 and was praised for a COVID-19 economic bailout package.
But he later faced criticism for not providing enough support for the cost of living in homes.
This year’s revelations about the tax status of his wealthy homeless woman and a fine she received for violating COVID’s blocking rules have damaged her position.
Penny Mordaunt
Mrs. Mordaunt has a long career in government. (Reuters: Simon Dawson)
The former Secretary of Defense had a difficult start in her leadership campaign after being forced to edit the convicted killer Oscar Pistorius from her first promotional video.
The release video featured Pistorius at the 2012 Paralympic Games, two years before he was convicted of killing his girlfriend. It has since been edited.
Several public figures, including Paralympic Jonnie Peacock, also publicly demanded that they be removed from the video.
Ms Mordaunt says leadership in Britain “should be a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship”.
She has held various positions in successive governments and was the first woman to become Minister of the Armed Forces and Secretary of State for Defense.
Braverman sole
Braverman resigned in protest of Theresa May’s Brexit deal, believing it was not going far enough to sever ties with Europe. (Reuters: Phil Noble)
The current attorney general has pledged to “move heaven and earth” to regain confidence in the government.
She was heavily criticized by lawyers after the government tried to break international law on post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland.
She campaigned to leave the EU and was a junior minister in the Brexit department under Theresa May.
Liz Truss
Ms. Truss has called for a return to conservative values. (Reuters, Henry Nicholls)
Foreign Minister Liz Truss’s open comments about Vladimir Putin have accused her of escalating tensions between Russia and the United Kingdom.
Multiple photo shoots in Russia before the invasion of Ukraine – including photographs with a large faux fur hat in Moscow and riding in a tank near the snow-capped Estonia – earned him the reputation of “Instagram diplomacy” .
On Sunday he launched his leadership offer to The Telegraph when he declared it was time to return to conservative values.
Truss has held various cabinet positions, including Secretary of State, and was the UK’s main negotiator with the EU in post-Brexit talks.
Tom Tugendhat
Tugendhat is known for his criticism of Boris Johnson. (Reuters: Peter Nicholls)
Tugendhat is the chairman of Parliament’s foreign affairs committee and a former soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He was promoted to major in the British Territorial Army in 2010.
He founded the China Research Group in 2020 and has since been banned from entering China, Hong Kong and Macao to spread what the Chinese government called “lies and misinformation”.
“The reason I’m standing is simple,” he wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
“Confidence in our politics and our party is collapsing. We need a clean start.”
Kemi Badenoch
Ms Badenoch announced on Saturday that she would run in the race for the post of prime minister. (Supplied by: Kemi Badenoch)
Badenoch was minister of equality and minister of local government, faith and communities before resigning last week.
LGBT groups have urged the former banker to resign over an alleged delay in banning so-called gay conversion therapy while she was an equality minister.
Ms Badenoch has promised to “focus on the essentials”.
“People are exhausted by empty phrases and rhetoric,” he wrote in The Times.
“It’s not enough to love our country, our people or our party.”
Nadhim Zahawi
Nadhim Zahawi said it would be an “honor” to serve as prime minister. (Reuters: Henry Nicholls)
Zahawi has only been in the chancellor’s office since last week, when Rishi Sunak resigned in protest of Boris Johnson’s conduct.
Since then, questions have been raised about his personal finances, which led him to claim that he is “clearly defamed.”
Officials expressed fiscal concerns about the former Secretary of Education and Minister of Vaccines before he was appointed, The Observer newspaper reported on Monday.
There has been no suggestion of misconduct.
“I wasn’t aware of it, I’ve always paid my taxes, I’ve declared my taxes in the UK,” he told Sky News.
“Today I pledge that if I am prime minister, I will publish my accounts annually.”
The personal story of Mr Zahawi as a former Iraqi refugee who came to Britain as a child sets him apart from other contenders.
He co-founded the polling company YouGov before entering Parliament in 2010.
Sajid Javid
Javid resigned as Johnson’s finance minister in 2020. (Reuters: Toby Melville / Pool)
The former banker and health minister was one of the prime ministers in the cabinet to resign in protest of Johnson’s repeated scandals, declaring that “enough is enough.”
He resigned as Mr Johnson’s chancellor in 2020 after Mr Johnson’s chief adviser fired one of Mr Javid’s aides without his permission and without telling him.
Then, the rising star of the party, Rishi Sunak proposed that he would remain in the Treasury during a cabinet reshuffle to “watch” Mr Javid after the incident, The Guardian said at the time.
Javid met with Johnson on the day of the reshuffle and announced his resignation and told PA Media that “no self-respecting minister would accept” the terms offered to him to keep the job.
The son of Pakistani Muslim immigrant parents, he is an admirer of Margaret Thatcher and finished fourth in the 2019 leadership contest.
His resignation speech was one of the triggers that saw the resignation of more than 50 ministers last week.
“I’m afraid the reset button can only work so many times,” he told the House of Commons.
“There are only so many times you can turn this machine on and off before you realize something is not working fundamentally.”
Grant Shapps
Grant Shapps says the “best days” in the UK are still ahead. (Reuters: Stefan Wermuth)
Named “Two Tags” by a former Labor prime minister, Shapps was criticized in 2012 when it emerged that he had used an alter ego to impersonate a millionaire web guru.
Shapps, like Michael Green, claimed customers could earn $ 20,000 in 20 days with the help of online guides sold by him and his wife, according to reports from The Guardian.
Shapps claimed it was a pseudonym.
He was accused of using a fake account to remove embarrassing material from his Wikipedia page and making unfavorable edits about other politicians, including his Conservative MPs.
He has been Secretary of State for Transport since 2019, and was first elected in 2005.
He has been a staunch supporter of Johnson, but said on Sunday “with the right leader” that the “best days” in the UK are still ahead.
Rehman Chishti
Chishti is the 11th candidate to join the race. (Provided by: Rehman Chishti)
Chishti began his political career as an adviser to former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto between 1999 and 2007.
He is considered the biggest outsider in the field of candidates.
He was appointed minister in the Foreign Ministry last week, alleging he offered a “new beginning”.
He served as Vice President of the Conservative Party for Communities in 2018 and the Prime Minister’s commercial envoy to Pakistan from 2017 to 2018.
ABC / AP