Several Tory heavyweights enter already fractious race to replace Johnson

Britain's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is expected to join the crowded field of contenders

A trio of Conservative heavyweights, including former health ministers Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt, late Saturday announced their bids to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson, meaning eight contenders have entered the already acrimonious leadership race.

Javid, also a former finance minister, and Hunt, who finished runner-up to Johnson in the last contest in 2019, were joined on the growing candidate list by current Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi, who was only appointed to that post on Tuesday. 

Hours earlier, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he would run, adding yet another candidate to the typically unpredictable political contest. Shapps is an experienced lawmaker who first served in the cabinet in 2010, but not a frontrunner in the polls either.

The likely months-long campaign, potentially pitting more than a dozen Conservative MPs and multiple factions of the ruling party against each another, is set to be formalised Monday when a committee of backbenchers will meet to agree the timetable and rules.

The early frontrunner is former finance minister Rishi Sunak, who helped kickstart the cabinet revolt that led to Johnson's forced resignation on Thursday.

But Johnson, whose three-year premiership has been defined by scandal, the country's departure from the European Union and the Covid pandemic, said he would stay on until his successor is selected. 

Attorney general and arch-Brexiteer Suella Braverman, the relatively unknown former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, and backbench Tory MP Tom Tugendhat have also announced their candidacies.

Taxation is set to be a key feature of the race, alongside candidates' Brexit credentials, as Britain faces the toxic combination of high inflation and rampant cost-of-living increases alongside stagnant growth and relatively high tax rates.

Announcing their bids separately in the Sunday Telegraph, Javid and Hunt both vowed to cut corporation tax from 25 to 15 percent.

Zahawi also pledged to lower taxes for individuals, families and business, boost defence spending, and continue with education reforms that he started in his previous role heading that government department.

He has also been attacked by Johnson loyalists and rival candidates in a sign of the acrimony that could blight the contest.

In a veiled swipe at Sunak, Shapps said in his leadership announcement that he had "not spent the last few turbulent years plotting or briefing against the prime minister... (or) mobilising a leadership campaign behind his back".

Following the nearly 60 resignations that triggered his decision to quit, Johnson assembled a new team to govern in the interim, announcing a flurry of junior appointments late Friday.

The Conservatives have declined to say how many eligible members they have, but note it will be more than the 160,000 who voted at the last leadership contest in 2019.

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