Brevia Consulting is providing a weekly round-up and analysis of the UK headlines. This week, read about the timeline and frontrunners of the Conservative party leadership contest and the motion of confidence tabled by the Government this week.
NEXT PM WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON 5 SEPTEMBER
The rules and timetable for the Conservative Party leadership contest were agreed on Monday. The new leader and Prime Minister will be unveiled on Monday 5 September when the process concludes.[1] The full timetable for the contest is set out below:
- 12 July | Nominations opened: candidates required nominations from 20 MPs
- 13 July | First-round vote: support of 30 MPs required
- 14—20 July | Run-off votes: candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated until two remain
- 21 July | Membership ballot: Conservative Party members select from two candidates
- 5 September | Final result announced
LEADERSHIP CONTEST WELL UNDERWAY
The Conservative leadership race began earlier this week, with the first round of voting taking place on Wednesday. The former Chancellor Rishi Sunak won the first round of voting, with Penny Mordaunt coming in second place, and Liz Truss placing third.[2] Both Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi failed to secure enough votes to make it through this round. The results of the second ballot were announced on Thursday afternoon, proving fruitful for all remaining candidates except Tom Tugendhat and Suella Braverman, the former dropping 5 votes down to 32 and the latter being knocked out of the race.[3] Over the next few days, the remaining candidates will take part in a series of live TV debates hosted by Channel 4, ITV, and Sky.
GOVERNMENT TO HOLD CONFIDENCE MOTION IN ITSELF
In a further strange turn of events in UK politics, the Government has tabled a confidence motion in itself after rejecting the no confidence motion proposed by the Labour Party earlier in the week. Convention dictates that the Government will usually allow Parliamentary time for a motion of no-confidence from the official opposition. However, the Government pushed back against Labour’s motion on the basis that it identified the Prime Minister and that debating the motion would not be the best use of Parliamentary time, given that the PM has already resigned.[4] Instead, the Government will put forward its own confidence motion, worded in a way that will make it easier for Conservative MPs to support. The vote will take place on Monday 18 July.[5]
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Notes
[1] The Telegraph, ‘Conservative leadership rules: How Tories will choose the next Prime Minister’, 14 July 2022, Link
[2] BBC, ‘Rishi Sunak wins first round of Tory leadership vote’, 13 July 2022, Link
[3] Financial Times, ‘UK Tory leadership race cut to 5 as Braverman eliminated’, 14 July 2022, Link
[4] Beth Rigby, Twitter, 13 July 2022, Link
[5] Sky News, ‘Government tables no-confidence vote in itself after blocking Labour bid’, 13 July 2022, Link
