With the resignation of the "short-lived" Prime Minister Tras in British history, the British Conservative Party had to launch the party's first election again, and who will become the successor quickly attracted the attention of all parties.

[Text/Observer Network Zhou Yibo]

With the resignation of the "short-lived" Prime Minister Tras in British history, the British Conservative Party had to launch the party's first election again, and who will become the successor quickly attracted the attention of all parties.

On October 20th local time, the Financial Times reported that former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Sunak and his campaign team have been preparing for Tras's resignation for several weeks and have become the "front runner" among many potential candidates. Another strong contender is former Prime Minister Johnson , who announced his resignation in July, who also received the highest party support rate in the latest poll.

At the same time, the European version of the US Political News Network (Politico) pointed out that Conservative leader of the British Parliament, Conservative Party leader Modott, former Secretary of the House of Representatives Braverman, former Secretary of the House of Representatives Braverman, and Secretary of Defense Wallace, who has always been regarded as a "popular candidate" are also potential contenders in this election.

According to the arrangements of the British Conservative Party, the prerequisite for participating in the party's first election is to obtain at least 100 votes from 357 Conservative MPs as of the 24th. Graham Brady, chairman of the "1922 Committee" responsible for overseeing the election, said that the new party leader will be elected before the 28th.

On October 20, British Prime Minister Elizabeth Tras announced his resignation at No. 10 Downing Streethtml

Former Chanak, who is regarded as a hottest former Chancellor of the Exchequer

In July this year, after Johnson, then the British Prime Minister, announced his resignation, several candidates targeted the Prime Minister's throne to participate in the competition. After multiple rounds of screening of Conservative MPs, Sunak and Tras finally entered the "finals circle" and jointly accepted the voting choice of all Conservative members.

Although Sunak successfully gained support from more Conservative MPs, he always took the lead. But among the 160,000 Conservative members, Tras has a higher approval rating, and she was eventually successfully elected as the leader of the party and was officially appointed as prime minister on September 6.

45 days later, Tras, who had "changed the orders in the morning and changed in the evening" in economic policies, was deeply in the crisis of governing. He finally announced his resignation on October 20 under heavy pressure, becoming the "shortest-lived" prime minister in British history.

Sunak, who has both political and business experience, did not receive an invitation from Tras to the cabinet. The Financial Times pointed out that Sunak had long predicted that Tras' large-scale tax cut plan would trigger market panic, and he and his campaign also foresaw Tras' resignation and had made several weeks of preparation.

report quoted anonymous cabinet ministers as saying that Sunak was "the most popular candidate." On the other hand, British bookmakers also regard Sunak as a hot spot for the new Conservative Party leader.

However, when former Prime Minister Johnson was caught in a "scandal of sheltering subordinates", Sunak, then the Chancellor of the Chancellor, took the lead in resigning and triggered a "resignation wave" of the government, becoming the "fuse" for Johnson's resignation - which also led to some controversy within the Conservative Party.

lawmakers and activists who support Johnson accused Sunak of putting his ambitions above the country and lacking "loyalty" to Johnson. According to the British " Guardian ", some sources said that Johnson himself is also waiting for an opportunity to "retaliate" Sunak and will block him from winning the party's first election.

The Financial Times believes that due to the firm opposition from some party members, Sunak has difficulty reunifying the now seriously divided Conservative Party, which is his biggest resistance to winning this party's first election.

As of now, Sunak has not publicly announced his participation in the latest Conservative Party’s first election, but his propaganda website for participating in the last party’s first election is still in normal operation.

Former British Chancellor Rich Sunak

Former Prime Minister Johnson, who has resigned for only 6 weeks, has been called to "come out"

At present, Johnson's supporters hope that the former Prime Minister can return as "the only candidate to stop Sunak", and a new topic of "Bring Back Boris" has appeared on social media.

"I hope you have a good holiday, boss." Johnson's former parliament aide and Conservative MP James Dudridge wrote on Twitter, "It's time to come back, there are some things in the office waiting to be resolved."”

According to the BBC (BBC), citing " Times " and " Daily Telegraph ", Johnson may participate in the upcoming Conservative Party first election after Tras announced his resignation - only about 6 weeks have passed since he stepped down.

According to the Times, Johnson believes that this move is related to "national interests." But so far, Johnson himself has not publicly admitted or denied the matter.

British polling company YouGov conducted a 530 British Conservative Party membership from October 17 to 18 A quick survey showed that when asked "If Tras resigned in the next few weeks, who do you most hope to take over", Johnson received the highest party approval rating (32%), and Sunak ranked second (23%).

YouGov analyzed that Johnson's reputation did not decrease due to Tras' poor performance, and even rebounded compared to when he announced his resignation in July this year.

Although another survey by the agency showed that Johnson's support rate among the British people was about 29%, and his net approval rating was -36%, lower than Sunak's -21%, only Conservative members could make a final vote on the party's top candidate.

includes Sky News Network (Sky News), Reuters , The Guardian, and many other UK and the United States also believe that Johnson's high approval rating in the party is likely to push him to the throne of prime minister again.

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Defence Secretary Wallace, who has been regarded as the "successor" many times, has been regarded as the "successor"

Politico reported that although Sunak and Johnson are the two hottest favorites in this party's first election, Defense Secretary Wallace, Conservative Leader Modott, and former Interior Secretary Braverman are also strong potential competitors.

In YouGov's survey on Conservative Party members' "who is best for taking over Trass", Wallace ranks third (10%), second only to Johnson (32%) and Sunak (32%). Tras announced his resignation After his post, Wallace has not made a direct statement on whether to compete for the party leader.

But it is worth noting that Wallace was regarded as the "hottest candidate" to replace Johnson in July this year, but he clearly stated on Twitter that he would not run for the election.

A few days ago, when Tras's approval rating plummeted, Wallace was once again regarded as a "hot successor" by the outside world, and he himself had to reiterate: I am not, I don't...

"Before finishing my work, I want to be the Secretary of Defense. I love this job, and there are still many things waiting for us to do next. "Wallace said, "I hope the Prime Minister (Tras) can always be in her seat, I just want to be the Secretary of Defense." ”

“I want to tell my colleagues who take it as their mission to intensify the turmoil within the party that no matter which other candidates you have proposed to be leaders, (you) are doing things worse. The British market is currently responding to government uncertainty, and the best way to inject confidence into it is to let people stop the political game. ”

British Secretary of Defense ben Wallace

Except for Wallace, Modot and Brevorman both participated in the party's first election in July this year. After Tras took office as prime minister, all three were appointed as members of the new cabinet.

Among them, Modot, who served as Secretary of Defense, is known for being outspoken and is also very popular in the party. In the last party's first election, she once ranked second in multiple rounds of voting for Conservative MPs, but was overtaken by Tras by 8 votes in the fourth round of voting and failed to enter the "finals circle".

As the leader of the House of Commons Conservative Party, Mordot responded to various external doubts in Parliament. On October 17, Trus, who was at the center of public opinion, was absent from parliamentary inquiry. When the opposition Labor Party questioned Trus "curled under her desk", Mordot insisted that "the prime minister did not hide under the table", which caused laughter.

Conservative leader Penny Mordot, the British House of Commons Conservative Party

Brevorman is the first member of the Trass cabinet to voluntarily resign, and this behavior is also regarded by the outside world as the "last straw" that broke down on Trass.In fact, during her tenure at Brevorman, she also caused a lot of "trouble" for Trass.

On October 4, Brevorman said in an interview with the British weekly magazine "Bysayer", "I am worried about the open border immigration policy with India because I don't think this is the reason why people voted for Brexit ."

When asked whether she would support the agreement if the free trade agreement only involves relaxing visas for Indian students and entrepreneurs, she said: "But I do have some reservations. Look at the immigration of this country - the most overdue residents are Indian immigrants."

At that time, the UK and India were negotiating on bilateral free trade coordination. Easing visa restrictions on Indian immigration was one of India's main demands.

According to Bloomberg, Braverman's "public complaints" about Indian immigration have made India's attitude on immigration issues stronger, further increasing the difficulty of reaching an agreement between the two sides.

Former British Home Secretary Sura Braverman

"We set a very high threshold"

The Financial Times reported that according to the arrangements of the British Conservative Party, the prerequisite for participating in the party's first election is to obtain the support of at least 100 Conservative MPs, with the deadline being October 24.

At present, there are 357 Conservative MPs in British Parliament . This means that at most, only three candidates can successfully cross this "first threshold".

"We set a very high threshold, but this threshold should be achieved by any candidate who has a tangible hope of winning." Graham Brady, chairman of the "1922 Committee" responsible for overseeing the election, said that if only one candidate receives sufficient support, the new party leader will be directly confirmed on the 24th.

Brady said that if two or three people crossed this threshold, the final candidate will be determined by Conservative MPs, and then all Conservative members will vote online, and the new leader will be elected by October 28.

The Conservative Party member of the British Parliament and Chairman of the "1922 Committee", Graham Brady, Trass's resignation and the upcoming election of the British Conservative Party have also attracted the attention of politicians from all over the West.

On October 20, French President Macron commented on Trass' resignation that it is very important for Britain to "restore stability as soon as possible".

Macron told reporters when he arrived at a EU summit in Brussels. He also said, "What we want most is stability," but on a personal level, "I am always sad about the departure of my colleagues."

Reuters report screenshot

On the same day, the White House website released a statement from Biden on the resignation of Trass as British Prime Minister.

The statement reads, "The fact that the United States and Britain are strong allies and lasting friends - this fact will never change. I thank Prime Minister Leeds Tras for his cooperation with us on a range of issues, including his statement on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. We will continue to work closely with the British government to jointly address the global challenges faced by countries."

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