Boris Johnson has resigned as the leader of the Conservative party and prime minister of the United Kingdom after almost three years in office. The political upheaval in Britain reached its tipping point after almost 50 ministers resigned from the Conservative Party, protesting over a series of alleged scandals — the latest being the allegations of sexual misconduct against a senior lawmaker in Johnson’s government. This ultimately dwindled the party’s faith in Johnson’s ability to lead. He is to stay on until his party chooses the next PM.
How long does Boris Johnson stay?
The Conservative Party’s new leader who will succeed Boris Johnson as the new British PM will be announced on September 5. As the party has a majority in the UK Parliament, the winner of the party leadership vote would automatically become the PM.
Who gets to vote?
First of all, this is not a general election. This is an internal voting that would take place within the Conservative party that holds a majority in the UK Parliament.
The party would choose its leader through a two-stage selection process.
First would be a series of secret ballots where 358 Tory (colloquial term for conservative party members) MPs would vote in the first round.
As of now, former Chancellor Rishi Sunak has won the second round with 101 votes, followed by Penny Mordaunt, with 83 votes, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss with 64 votes.
He also won the first round of voting with 88 votes, followed by trade minister Penny Mordaunt with 67 votes and foreign secretary Liz Truss with 50 votes.
Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, former health secretary Jeremy Hunt and Suella Braverman, the attorney general have been eliminated from the race.
Further ballots will take place in the following week, with the bottom-ranked candidate getting eliminated in each round.
The final round of voting happens with two candidates in a face-off. Around 1,60,000 Tory members would select their leader through postal ballot (voting through post or any electronic mode) as the next party leader and PM.
The result will be announced on 5 September.
What exactly are hustings?
To put it in simple terms, the final two candidates will campaign for the second round of voting through the summer months. ‘Hustings’ is another term for these campaign events.
The ballot papers would be sent through post to Tory MPs in August.
Take a look at the candidates
Initially, eight MPs from the Conservative Party qualified for the first-round ballot. Each candidate got the backing of at least 20 party members.
In the order of highest to lowest votes received in the first-round ballot. Top row from left: Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt. Liz Truss, Bottom row from left: Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat, Suella Braverman (AFP)
What is the Queen’s role?
As per age-old traditions, the outgoing PM appears before the House of Commons for the last time and then outside 10 Downing Street, before visiting Buckingham palace.
The outgoing PM places the resignation letter before the queen, after which a statement is released by the palace saying that the queen is “pleased to accept” the prime minister’s resignation.
After this, the departing PM’s car exits the palace and the one carrying the new PM will visit the queen. The new leader will seek permission from the Queen to form a new government. Once the queen accepts, the UK will have a new PM.
Watch WION LIVE HERE:
You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.
