LONDON, July 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The five Conservative contenders still vying to be Britain’s next prime minister will clash in a second televised debate on Sunday when they are set to renew hostilities over tax policy and issues such as transgender rights.
With no clear candidate to succeed Boris Johnson who is stepping down after a series of scandals, the battle to be the next leader remains unpredictable and increasingly fractious, exposing rifts in the ruling Conservative Party.
Ex-finance minister Rishi Sunak has emerged as the favourite among the 358 Conservative lawmakers, who will hold further votes this week to whittle down the field of contenders to a final two.
A JL Partners poll for the Sunday Telegraph suggested that almost half of Conservative voters thought he would make a good prime minister ahead of his main rivals foreign minister Liz Truss and junior minister Penny Mordaunt.
However, Truss also has wide support, including from those most loyal to Johnson, and junior minister Penny Mordaunt has topped surveys of the 200,000 party members who will ultimately choose who becomes Conservative leader and therefore prime minister.
In a demonstration of how open the race is, a survey of party members for the Conservative Home website on Saturday suggested that former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch was now ahead of the others, with Truss in second and Mordaunt, currently the bookmakers’ favourite, slipping to third.
That came after the fifth candidate, Tom Tugendhat, chair of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, topped a viewers’ poll after the first TV debate on Friday.
Opinion polls also suggest that the Conservatives are falling significantly behind the opposition Labour Party.
Conservative lawmakers will hold another vote on Monday when the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated, and the final two will be chosen by July 21.
Party members will then vote for the winner who will be announced on Sept 5. — NNN-AGENCIES
