Bor-exit may be messy for Conservative Party 

BORIS Johnson may have resigned as Conservative leader last week (July 7), after months of mounting pressure, but the UK ruling party’s troubles are far from over.

For while Conservative MPs are largely of the view that it is right for Johnson to go, they and the wider party are very divided as to who his successor should be. There is likely to be a big philosophical debate within the party in coming weeks, including about whether it needs to move back more toward a Thatcherite-style “low tax, small state” approach after the big spending, interventionist alternative of Johnson.

Early polling indicates that there is no overwhelming frontrunner, but an early outlier may be Finance Minister Rishi Sunak who was one of the first candidates to declare, and has benefited from the decision of Defence Secretary Ben Wallace not to enter the race. Sunak, whose resignation last week alongside fellow Cabinet Minister Sajid Javid precipitated Johnson’s downfall, could find it easier to make the case he will be a change candidate, restoring standards in public life, than those who have stuck with the prime minister right to the end.