No fewer than six Conservative Party leaders have been drawn up as potential replacements for the United Kingdom Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who resigned on Thursday.
Johnson announced his resignation from England’s top office on Wednesday after succumbing to the pressure of a historic party revolt over a series of ethics scandals as nearly 60 members of his government resigned.
Though it took almost half the payroll for Johnson to finally abandon his attempts to cling on to power, the Prime Minister insisted that he would continue as a caretaker leader while the Conservative Party launches the process of choosing a successor.
However, the prominent Conservatives who are seen as contenders include former Chancellor, Rishi Sunak; former Health Secretary, Sajid Javid; Defence Minister, Ben Wallace and current Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, as well as other less prominent officials including Trade Minister, Penny Mordaunt and former Health Minister, Jeremy Hunt.
None of them has declared interest in running for the top job with only Attorney General Suella Braverman announcing that she is running.
Johnson’s resignation as leader of the Conservative Party set in motion a race for a new prime minister.
On Thursday, he stood outside No. 10 Downing Street where he announced his resignation, stating that “no one in politics is remotely indispensable” and that he was “sad to be giving up the best job in the world.” The outgoing Conservative Party leaders said he would continue to serve as prime minister until a successor is chosen in a leadership contest set to take place over the coming weeks.
“It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore, a new prime minister. The process of choosing that new leader should begin now,” he added, saying the timeline will be announced next week.
Before his abrupt resignation, the PM had been accused of a lack of focus and ideas in his cabinet, with a former adviser, Dominic Cummings, being his chief critic.