Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Attorney General Suella Braverman, two Indian-origin members of the UK Parliament, on Tuesday, 12 July, featured on the initial shortlist of eight candidates who are in the fray to replace Boris Johnson as the leader of the Conservative Party and British prime minister.
Other leaders to make the list include Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt, former Cabinet ministers Kemi Badenoch and Jeremy Hunt, and Tory backbencher Tom Tugendhat.
Sunak, who formally launched his campaign earlier, remains the frontrunner in the race with reportedly the highest number of MPs behind him.
“I am running a positive campaign focused on what my leadership can offer our party and our country,” the 42-year-old Conservative leader said at his campaign launch.
However, earlier Braverman said that she has “got the numbers” to successfully make the leadership race ballot.
Braverman has been a Member of Parliament for Fareham since 2015. Her parents emigrated to Britain from Kenya and Mauritius in the 1960s.
The candidates, who needed the backing of at least 20 MPs to make the first cut, now face the first round of voting on Wednesday, 13 July. Only those with the backing of at least 30 MPs will progress to round two.
The close of nominations saw the two Pakistani-origin-hopefuls - former Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Foreign Office Minister Rehman Chisti - withdrew from the race after they failed to meet the 20-MP mark. Javid said, “There is an abundance of both ideas and talent in our party. One of the candidates will be given the honour of becoming Prime Minister.”
With a second ballot set to take place on Thursday, the field will be narrowed as candidates with the least votes gets knocked out. There exists a 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 reduce the shortlist to solely two remaining candidate is 21 July. The 1922 Committee Chair Sir Graham Brady, on the day, will also seek assurances that both finalists will remain in the race to face the wider party membership ballot.
(With inputs from PTI)
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