Candidates to succeed Theresa May as British prime minister launched their campaigns earlier this week, promising to solve the turmoil surrounding Brexit and taking shots at the front-runner Boris Johnson. Nominations were judged by the Conservative Party’s 1922 Committee on Monday, requiring the support of at least eight of their lawmakers. A public campaign has consequently commenced for 10 candidates who had achieved the required support.
All the campaigners promise to finalize Brexit divorce and most of them also promise to stop Boris Johnson from becoming prime minister and taking the country into a no-deal Brexit. Sam Gyimah, the only one to support holding a second Brexit referendum, stepped down shortly before the committee announced he had not gained sufficient support. Tmain topic of the contest remains, by and large, the “anti-Johnson” push that all the other candidates seem to share. The appeal is directed against Johnson’s proposal to deliver no-deal Brexit. Conservative lawmakers are due to vote and narrow the field on Thursday.
May resigned as leader of the ruling Conservative Party after her third failure to win parliament’s support for a Brexit deal. While she has not been able to deliver the deal, all the candidates are confident to resolve the Brexit conundrum. “All those that do have such aspirations have a responsibility to set out their approach to Brexit, which is anchored in the hard realities of the situation. We should not pretend that leaving the European Union without a deal will be anything other than enormously harmful to our economy, weaken our security relationships and threaten the integrity of the union,” commented Justice Secretary David Gauke on candidates’ aspirations.
