With the departure of Boris Johnson, who has seen his base of support dwindle, the favorite to succeed him as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is Ben Wallace, Secretary of Defense, shows a survey by the YouGov institute released on Thursday (7).
The survey heard 716 members of the Conservative Party, to which Boris belongs, between Tuesday (5th) and Wednesday (6th), days in which the process of erosion of the government had already intensified with the stampede of dozens of parliamentarians and some important ministers.
About 13% said they would vote for Ben Wallace, while another 12% said the choice would be Penny Mordaunt, a lawmaker who also headed the portfolio and now heads the trade ministry. Following are Rishi Sunak, who resigned as finance minister, with 10%, and Chancellor Liz Truss (8%).
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, who in 2019 competed with Boris for leadership of the party, appears in eighth place, with 5%, alongside Nadhim Zahawi, chosen to replace Sunak.
With the prime minister’s resignation, the Conservatives will begin a selection process that involves a series of votes among candidates for the leadership until only two possible names remain. Then, all affiliates vote for the finalists, and the one with the most votes becomes premier.
The YouGov poll shows that Ben Wallace would be the preferred candidate in all the most likely races — and by wide margins. His closest rival would be Rishi Sunak, the former head of finance. In this scenario, 51% say they would support Wallace, while 30% would go with Sunak. Another 19% did not know how to respond.
It also outperforms Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt with 48% of support versus 26% and 29% respectively. In the case of a dispute with Jeremy Hunt, 58% of conservatives polled say they would go with Ben, while 22% would support the former secretary of health.
YouGov also asked parliamentarians which main characteristics they will take into account when deciding their support. The three most mentioned priorities were competence for the post of premier (55%), ability to unite the frayed Conservative Party (54%) and ability to win the 2024 elections (53%).
The majority — 84% — also disapprove of the possibility of Boris’ successor calling early general elections.
Wallace was one of those who remained in Boris’s office and said little about the departure of his colleagues. Then, in a post on Twitter this morning, he wrote: “Some of us have an obligation to keep the country safe, no matter who the prime minister is; the party has a mechanism to change leaders, and that is mechanism that I advise colleagues to use.”
The favorite to succeed Boris has gained prominence in recent months for commanding British Defense in the midst of the Ukrainian War, as London has been one of the main protagonists in diplomacy around the conflict – Boris twice made surprise visits to Kiev, when met with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Wallace, 52, was appointed Secretary of Defense in 2019. He graduated from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and served missions in Northern Ireland, Germany and Central America. He began his political career as a member of the Scottish Assembly, until in 1999 he arrived at Westminster.
In addition to the laurels he won for supporting Kiev in the war against Russia, he also spearheaded the withdrawal of British citizens from Afghanistan in the second half of last year, when the fundamentalist Taliban group regained power after the withdrawal of Western troops from the country from Asia. Central.
