Britain: Ben Wallace withdraws from Truss “succession race”, supports Boris Johnson

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The British Defense Minister recalled that it was Boris Johnson who ensured in 2019 the great self-reliance on behalf of the Tories.

London, Thanasis Gavos

The Minister of Defense Ben Wallace has declared that he will not contest the leadership of the Conservative Party and the Prime Ministership, despite the fact that he is considered extremely popular among MPs and Tory members.

Instead, he said he was “leaning towards” lending his support to Boris Johnson, who has begun sniping at his fellow British MPs to stage what has been described as “the mother of all political comebacks

Mr Wallace said the choice of the new leader should be made on the basis of party unity, the prospect of electoral victory, but also the popular mandate, recalling that it was Mr Johnson who in 2019 secured the great autonomy on behalf of the Tories .

As Secretary of Defense, he added, his decision to support a candidate leader would depend on and from the support commitment and financing of his ministry and the country’s armed forces.

Tory candidates are counting beans – BoJo is preparing for a comeback

The new race for the leadership of Tory and Downing Street it has started after the resignation of Liz Truss, in the shadow of Boris Johnson’s attempt to return to the political limelight.

No candidate has yet been officially announced for this internal party process but, according to the British press, Boris Johnson is returning from a holiday in Santo Domingo ready to enter the arena, some three months after he was forced to resign amid a series of scandals .

“Bojo: I’m Back”, is the headline of the British tabloid The Sun. Of the rest of the conservative British papers, the Daily Telegraph presents Boris Johnson as a potential “savior” of the Tories from a predicted electoral debacle. He also emphasizes that the outgoing former prime minister has extended an olive branch to his former finance minister, Rishi Sunak.

THE Daily Mail highlights on its front page the possibility of a duel between the two men.

On the left, the Daily Mirror highlights Labor leader Keir Starmer’s demand: an election NOW, because the country cannot wait until late 2024-early 2025.

In the hallways, the potential candidates for the leadership race are counting their beans, as they need to secure the support of at least 100 Conservative MPs by Monday afternoon. The name of the winner will be announced next Friday at the latest.

Boris Johnson’s supporters point to the “legitimization” that the former prime minister derives from his electoral victory in 2019. His opponents recall the lies, scandals, backbiting of his three years as prime minister, which have marked the political life of the country and the Tory.

Some MPs are even threatening to resign if Boris Johnson returns.

“He had his chance,” he declared to BBC David Lidington, a member of Theresa May’s government.

As for Rishi Sunak, Johnson’s camp sees him as a traitor who hastened Bojo’s downfall. He was the candidate who gathered the preferences of Conservative Party MPs in the race to succeed Boris Johnson. However, he did not prevail over the preferences of the base of the party who elected Liz Truss for a mortal term.

The current minister responsible for the Connection with the Parliament Penny Mordantalso a candidate in the previous race, is also considered a serious potential contender.

Whoever the next prime minister is, he will be leading a fragmented party against an opposition that is enjoying record polls. And a country immersed in an acute economic and social crisis.

Inflation is over 10%, the highest in 40 years, amid a strained social climate in the UK, where strike action has multiplied in recent months with a focus on the transport sector.

The next prime minister will be the fifth since the Brexit referendum in 2016 and the third in two months. If this pace continues, King Charles will have broken Queen Elizabeth’s record of 15 prime ministers during her reign by the summer of 2024, according to mocking comments on Twitter.

In order to make it possible to nominate a prime minister by Friday, October 28, a rapid internal party procedure was set up.

The limit of 100 MPs limits candidates to a maximum of three, as the Conservative Party has 357 seats in the House of Commons.

MPs will then have to agree on two names, which party members will vote on in an online vote by October 28, or on the name of one and only person who will directly take over the Tory leadership and the Prime Ministership. Until then, Liz Truss remains prime minister to manage current affairs.

With information from APE

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