Race to replace Johnson intensifies as Truss announces bid

FOREIGN Secretary Liz Truss entered the race to replace Boris Johnson as UK premier, the latest cabinet minister to make her move in an already fractious contest.

Truss made tax cuts the heart of her campaign, vowing to reverse a payroll tax hike that was introduced by former chancellor Rishi Sunak and pledging to make corporation tax “competitive.”

“Under my leadership, I would start cutting taxes from day one to take immediate action to help people deal with the cost of living,” she wrote in the Daily Telegraph on Sunday (Jul 10) night.

She joins 10 other candidates who have begun to make their pitches including Sunak, his successor Nadhim Zahawi, and ex-health ministers Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt. Home Secretary Priti Patel is also weighing a run. 

Meanwhile former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch was backed by ex-cabinet minister Michael Gove, who was fired by Johnson last week in one of his last acts before resigning. The winner will be announced by September.

The precise timetable for the leadership contest is expected to be set out late on Monday, after a meeting of the 1922 Committee of rank-and-file Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs), which decides the rules. It is also likely to set out how many MP nominations each contender must have to stand, in order to narrow the crowded field.

Conservatives want the contest to be as speedy as possible, and are keen to whittle down candidates to a final 2 before Parliament goes on its summer recess on Jul 21. That means the next 2 weeks in Westminster are likely to get heated: barbs both political and personal will fly, and alliances will develop as candidates seek to shore up support from their fellow lawmakers.

The MPs will get to decide which candidates will make the final 2, in a series of voting rounds that could start as soon as Wednesday. But Conservative Party members will pick the ultimate winner, after the leadership finalists make a 6-week tour of the UK over the summer.

The party declined to confirm the current number of Tory members, but it is thought to be more than the 160,000 who were sent voting papers at the last contest in 2019. Under party rules, this select group — more likely to be male, aged over 55 and living in the south of England — has the unique power of choosing the next premier.

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Johnson quit as Conservative leader last Thursday after a dramatic mass revolt from his ministers, following a series of scandals that have overshadowed his 3-year premiership. He has vowed to stay on as prime minister until his successor is announced, and has appointed a caretaker government which he insists will not “make major changes of direction”. 

Keir Starmer’s opposition Labour party will call a vote of no confidence in Johnson’s government this week if, as expected, the 1922 Committee fails to reject Johnson as a caretaker premier. Such a vote, held in the House of Commons, could lead to Johnson being forced out and a new interim prime minister appointed, or even an early general election.

But it would need significant support among Conservatives, many of whom are likely to opt to keep Johnson as temporary leader to avoid handing Starmer a victory.

The leadership contest is already becoming a battle over cash for households, with limited interest in fiscal restraint. Current chancellor Zahawi said on Monday he wants government departments to cut spending by 20 per cent to pay for tax cuts.

“That’s what I want to make sure we get to,” he told Sky News. “That will give me the headroom to be able to deliver tax cuts which I want to deliver.”

His rival Tom Tugendhat, centrist chair of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, told BBC Radio on Monday he wanted to “lower taxes across every aspect of society” — but did not explain how that would be paid for.

Javid and Hunt have also made tax-cutting a priority. On Sunday, they promised to cancel a planned increase in corporation tax and reduce it to 15 per cent from 25 per cent. Javid also vowed to reverse the National Insurance rise that came in during April, as Truss has done.

It comes as Britons struggle with a surge in the cost of living, amid planned rises in energy bills and rail fares, and the prospect of widespread strikes from public sector workers demanding higher pay.

Sunak sought to paint himself as the responsible candidate in his opening pitch on Twitter, referencing his stewardship of the economy during the pandemic and refusing to bow to “fairy tales” on how to solve the country’s problems.

But he could have problems winning over MPs who are unimpressed with his record on increasing taxes, having pushed the nation’s tax burden to its highest level since World War II — a move that sits uneasily with Tory ideology.

Meanwhile, Zahawi hit back at allegations over his tax affairs, after the Independent and Sunday Times newspapers reported his finances were being investigated by HM Revenue and Customs after an initial probe by the National Crime Agency. In a statement, Zahawi said the claims were “inaccurate, unfair and are clearly smears”.

Other leadership contenders include trade minister Penny Mordaunt, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, Attorney-General Suella Braverman, and — in a surprise addition late on Sunday — Rehman Chishti, who became a Foreign Office minister last week. BLOOMBERG