Rishi Sunak, former United Kingdom Chancellor, is one of the early candidates to reach the threshold of 20 Conservative Party members of Parliament for their nominations to compete for the post of leader and next British prime minister, to be announced on Tuesday, September 5.
The 42-year-old British Indian MP for Richmond in Yorkshire maintains his lead in the race to replace Boris Johnson as nominations formally opened for the contest.
The contenders for the post of Prime Minister have time till 6 pm. In the race to hit the expected 20-MP mark, trade minister Penny Mordant, new chancellor Nadim Zahawi and Tory backbencher Tom Tugendhat received his nomination in local time.
Others expected to run include: Indian-origin Attorney General Suella Braverman, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Nigerian-origin Kemi Badenoch, former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, Foreign Office Minister Rehman Chishti and former Health Secretary Sajid Javid.
Indian-origin Home Secretary Priti Patel is said to be still considering a bid and may enter the race late with considerable support within the Conservative Party’s staunch Brexit wing.
On Monday, the 1922 committee laid out the timetable for the leadership race and confirmed that the new prime minister would be elected on September 5 and address its first prime ministerial questions in Parliament on September 7.
The first round of voting by Tory MPs is scheduled for Wednesday, when each candidate will need the support of 30 allies, or less than 10% of Tory MPs, overall to progress to the second round.
A second ballot on Thursday will narrow down the field further as candidates with the least votes keep getting knocked out. There is provision for further ballots next week if the race to get to the final two candidates does not conclude by the end of this week.
The deadline to narrow down the shortlist to just two remaining candidates is July 21, when the 1922 Committee Chair Sir Graham Brady will also seek an assurance that both finalists will remain in the race to face the wider party membership ballot.
