Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt join race for the Tory leadership

An overnight Tuesday deadline to register candidacies could be imposed, according to reports, with 11 contenders already.

Liz Truss is seen as a frontrunner in the Tory leadership contest. Picture: AFP

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Sunday joined the race to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister and leader of the ruling Conservative party, bringing the number of candidates to ll.

Ms Truss, 46, announced her candidacy in The Daily Telegraph on Sunday night, saying she had “a clear vision of where we need to be, and the experience and resolve to get us there”.

The bid by Ms Truss, seen as a frontrunner in the Tory leadership contest, followed that of former defence secretary Penny Mordaunt. Ms Mordaunt, 49, an ex-navy reservist, is not among the favourites to succeed Mr Johnson in polls of Tory party members ultimately set to choose their new leader.

Yet such contests are notoriously unpredictable and with more than a dozen Tory MPs from multiple factions of the party potentially set to run, political commentators say few contenders can be discounted.

The early favourite is former chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak, 42, who launched his campaign on Friday after helping to kickstart the cabinet revolt that forced Mr Johnson’s resignation on Thursday. He is drawing early fire from Johnson loyalists and rival candidates.

Mr Sunak and former health minister Sajid Javid, 52 – who has also declared his candidacy – both resigned late last Tuesday, prompting nearly 60 frontbenchers to follow suit.

That forced Mr Johnson to then quit as Tory leader 36 hours later, but the 58-year-old former leader, whose three-year premiership has been defined by scandal, Brexit and the Covid pandemic, said he would stay on until his successor is selected.

Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, 55, runner-up to Mr Johnson in the last contest in 2019, announced late on Saturday he would stand again.

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, 55 – appointed to the post only last Tuesday – and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, 53, have also launched bids.

They join Attorney-General and arch-Brexiteer Suella Braverman, 42, relatively unknown former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, 42, and backbench Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, 49, on the growing candidate list.

Another Tory MP, Rehman Chishti, 43, announced his leadership bid overnight on Sunday to take the number of contenders to 11.

Taxation is a key dividing line in the race, as Britain faces the toxic combination of high inflation and rampant cost-of-living increases alongside stagnant growth and high tax rates.

Mr Hunt, Mr Shapps and Mr Tugendhat set out their stances for lower taxes in Sunday television appearances, while Ms Truss also put cutting taxes at the heart of her pitch. But declaring his candidacy in a video on social media before the weekend, Mr Sunak struck a different tone, warning Tories not to believe “fairytale” pledges.

Mr Zahawi’s campaign appeared in early danger following Sunday newspaper reports that his personal tax affairs were under investigation by revenue and Customs officials – who are part of his Treasury department. He has denied wrongdoing.

The likely months-long acrimonious campaign is set to be formalised overnight on Monday when the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers will meet to agree the timetable and rules.

A Tuesday evening deadline to register candidacies could be imposed, according to reports.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the committee’s treasurer, told LBC radio he was “absolutely confident” the contest could be whittled down to two candidates to put to members within weeks, before parliament’s summer recess starting after July 21.

First, multiple rounds of voting by all 358 Tory MPs is likely, with elimination thresholds set for each stage. The leader then chosen by members could be in place ahead of the Conservatives’ annual conference in early October.

Conservative commentator Iain Dale said on Sunday that if a consensus candidate emerged, the contest could end without party members voting, as happened in 2016 with the selection of Theresa May.

AFP