Former UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has officially launched his campaign to become the next prime minister, vowing to fight a clean contest and vowing not to “demonize” Boris Johnson.
But the offer of a truce to Johnson, still enraged by Sunak’s alleged “betrayal,” was not reciprocated: the outgoing prime minister’s allies mobilized on Tuesday to try to “stop Rishi.”
Brexit Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, Johnson’s most loyal allies, announced in Downing Street that they would support Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. to bring the pro-Brexit right-wing flag to the contest.
Rees-Mogg said Truss, who campaigned for Remain in 2016, was “a Eurosceptic” and had opposed the cabinet to a series of tax increases by Sunak, whom he described as ” socialist “.
As the leadership race reached its first big moment – the closing of nominations at 6pm on Tuesday – Interior Minister Priti Patel confirmed she would not run.
Patel’s allies said they were considering giving their support to Truss, which is becoming the Conservative right’s preferred option, or to new Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi.
Sunak launched his campaign by promising to heal party divisions, proclaiming that Johnson had “a good heart” and was “one of the most remarkable people I have ever known.” He added: “Was it defective? Yes, but so are we all.”
Leading the campaign was joined by Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who have supported him.
Shapps withdrew from the leadership contest Tuesday hours before the deadline for nominations. Conservative MPs believed he would not get the support of the 20 colleagues needed to gain access to the ballot.
As the deadline approached, and with the first round of voting held on Wednesday, there was frantic activity in Westminster as candidates tried to gain momentum.
Former Equality Minister Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the House of Commons select foreign affairs committee, launched their campaigns, while Penny Mordaunt, trade minister and favorite of party activists, won the support from former Brexit Secretary David Davis.
Davis said Mordaunt was “most likely to beat Rishi Sunak.” Many Conservative MPs believe Mordaunt or Truss will end up on the final list of two alongside the former chancellor to be elected by party members.
Sunak’s release drew more media attention. He promised to hold an “adult conversation” with the party and said it would only offer tax cuts once inflation had domesticated.
It focused on corporate tax reform to boost investment and innovation, and a “new consensus” on immigration that combined “border control” with a regime that allowed talent to enter Britain to drive growth.
Sunak, whose cause has long been championed by Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s former chief executive, said the controversial official would have “absolutely nothing to do with any government I have the privilege of leading.”
Shapps joined the launch by former Conservative leader Gavin Williamson. The two Sunak supporters worked together to organize the success of Johnson’s 2019 leadership campaign.
Sunak has faced strong criticism from his rivals for presiding over a series of tax increases. Many other candidates are proposing radical tax cuts to try to appeal to the right of the party.
The chairman of the Office of Budgetary Responsibility, the independent tax control body, said on Tuesday that any proposed tax cuts should “add up”, warning that they were not what mattered most for long-term economic growth. .
Speaking to the Institute for Government think tank, Richard Hughes said the question to be asked of candidates promising tax cuts was, “Are you going to review these spending increases or are you looking for another place?”
He also questioned the impact of tax cuts on boosting growth.
“Tax cuts may provide some short-term stimulus to demand,” he said, but added that they will occur in a context of rising inflation and interest rates, and uncertainty about the fiscal outlook. in the medium term.
Badenoch announced that, as Prime Minister, he would break the zero climate target, saying the policy had damaged British industry with emissions rising elsewhere.
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Badenoch, who was born in London but spent his childhood in the United States and Nigeria, said he believes in “free markets, limited government and a strong nation-state.” She has the support of former leveling minister Michael Gove.
In his launch, Tugendhat said the UK “desperately needs unity and not faction”, promised a “new start” for the party and said voters were facing an economic crisis.
“For many there is more than you are. There is division in our politics, an economy laden with debt and despair for our future, ”he said.
He also pledged to continue Johnson’s leveling agenda to address regional inequality, proposing an “Oxbridge of the North” for vocational education, in addition to a Brexit-linked deregulation agenda.