In Great Britain, the last round of elections for the leader of the Conservative Party, who will become the new Prime Minister, has ended.
According to Sky News, the junior minister of trade, Penny Mordont, dropped out of the race, gaining 105 votes of MPs. Now the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Liz Truss (113 votes), and the former finance minister Rishi Sunak (137 votes) will fight for the prime ministerʼs seat.
Tomorrow, July 21, the British Parliament will go on vacation. During this time, members of the Conservative Party across the country (about 160,000 members) will vote by mail for the new leader. The result will be announced on September 5.
- On June 6, members of the Conservative Party held a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson due to the results of an investigation into the parties held in the prime ministerʼs office during the quarantine. Investigators determined that in 2020 and 2021 parties were held in the office without complying with quarantine measures, which the government introduced throughout Great Britain due to the coronavirus. Participants were fined. Johnson admitted his guilt, apologized, and announced his willingness to pay a fine. According to the voting results, the Prime Minister received a vote of confidence and did not resign.
- Within a month, a scandal broke out again — due to the appointment of Christopher Pincher, who was accused of harassing two colleagues, to a position close to Johnson. There are versions that Johnson himself knew about this, but appointed Pincher anyway. The British prime minister again publicly apologized for such a decision but emphasized that he would not resign.
- At the beginning of July, more than 50 members of his cabinet and high-ranking officials left Johnson due to scandals. The next day, he appointed new members of the government, but already on July 7, Johnson announced that he was resigning as head of government and leader of the Conservative Party. He will serve as the head of the party and the government until a new one is elected.
- On July 12, the Labor Party initiated a vote of no confidence, and on July 13, the British government initiated a vote of confidence in itself.
- On July 18, Johnsonʼs government avoided a vote of no confidence. The House of Commons of Great Britain, after five hours of debate, could not gather a sufficient number of votes — Johnsonʼs government was supported by 349 MPs, 238 opposed.