The list to replace Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister who resigned this Thursday (7), is long and diverse.
Amid an avalanche of crises and abandoned by allies, Boris has indicated he will remain in office until a new Conservative Party leader is chosen.
Applicants must undergo a selection process that involves a series of votes until only two possible names remain. It is then that all party members vote for the finalists — and the name that receives the most nominations emerges as premier. Meet some of those involved in the dispute.
Grant Shapps
Transport secretary since 2019, Shapps has made statements saying that, if elected, his goals would be to reduce taxes and reverse the cost of living crisis. He also served as a minister during the term of Prime Minister David Cameron (2010-2016) and was vice chairman of the Conservative Party. He has a degree in business and finance.
Nadhim Zahawi
Until then responsible for the Education portfolio, he was appointed Finance Secretary after the incumbent resigned in the recent wave of turmoil that hit the British government earlier this month. Before, at the end of 2020, he was the secretary responsible for the implementation of vaccines against Covid. He was born in Iraq and emigrated as a child with his family to the UK fleeing Saddam Hussein’s regime. He founded the YouGov research firm in the 2000s.
Tom Tugendhat
He became a deputy in 2015, and is the current chairman of Parliament’s foreign affairs committee. He was part of the army, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. He launched his candidacy with an article in the Daily Telegraph, proposing to unite a country divided by Brexit.
Sajid Javid
The former health minister helped spark the British government’s layoffs crisis when he resigned this week. He held different positions in the cabinet of Boris Johnson and also of his predecessors, among them David Cameron (2010-2016). He is the son of Pakistani immigrants and, according to the New York Times, became the first representative of an ethnic minority to hold the position of Secretary of the Interior, in 2018.
Rishi Sunak
Alongside Sajid Javid, he was one of the experienced members of Boris Johnson’s management to resign. He announced his candidacy with a video in which he promised to face the difficult economic scenario with “honesty, seriousness and determination”. Sunak was appointed finance secretary in early 2020 and was lauded for an economic rescue package to tackle the crisis caused by the pandemic.
