LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) – Britain’s new prime minister will be announced on September 5, the first votes to begin weeding out candidates in a crowded and increasingly unpredictable and divisive contest to replace Boris Johnson coming this week.

So far 11 candidates have thrown their hats into the ring to succeed Johnson as leader of the ruling Conservative Party and Prime Minister after he resigned following a dramatic rebellion by his own lawmakers and ministers after a series of scandals.

The 1922 committee of Tory MPs that organizes the leadership race said the candidates would need at least 20 nominations from among the party’s 358 lawmakers to even proceed to the first ballot on Wednesday.

Anyone who then receives fewer than 30 votes will be eliminated before another vote follows on Thursday. Almost all of the contenders have promised major tax cuts to win the support of their colleagues. Read more

“I’m very keen to see this concluded in the smoothest, cleanest and fastest way possible,” said committee chairman Graham Brady.

The field will be narrowed to a final two candidates by lawmakers, before a postal ballot of Conservative Party members, who number less than 200,000, takes place over the summer.

A poll for the conservative website Home on Monday found former defense minister Penny Mordaunt the most popular with members, followed by equality minister Kemi Badenoch and Rishi Sunak, whose resignation as minister of Finance helped bring down Johnson.

“There seems to be a pretty big field right now, a lively contest,” Brady said. “I hope we will have a very constructive competition, but (also) a very good opportunity for a healthy and constructive debate on the future direction of the Conservative Party.”

The battle for the top job comes after one of the most tumultuous periods in modern British political history, when more than 50 ministers and government aides resigned, citing character, integrity and inability of Johnson to tell the truth.

The new leader will also have to overturn evaporating support for the Tories. A poll by Savanta ComRes on Monday puts the opposition Labor at 43% to the Conservatives’ 28%, its biggest lead in the polls since 2013.

The succession contest has already become personal.

Former finance minister Sajid Javid, another of the candidates, criticized what he called “poisonous gossip” and “attacking notes” issued by some colleagues over the weekend.

“It’s not the ‘House of Cards’ or the ‘Game of Thrones,’ and people who are here just because they like the game, they’re in the wrong place,” he said. “Now is the time to come together, not to separate.”

TAX CUTS

The issue of tax cuts was quickly becoming the central battle of the race, with nearly every candidate promising to cut taxes for businesses or individuals.

Delivering her speech, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who has held cabinet posts in several government departments including trade, justice and the treasury, said she would reverse the recent increase in National Insurance contributions and announced a corporate tax cut.

Fellow contenders Jeremy Hunt and Javid have both pledged to cut corporation tax, while Mordaunt has pledged to cut fuel taxes.

Sunak is the early frontrunner, but he is the only candidate to have downplayed the prospect of impending tax cuts, saying embracing “heartwarming fairy tales” would make things worse for future generations.

It prompted rivals to attack his economic record after the tax burden hit its highest level since the 1950s. .

“FANTASTIC ECONOMY”

Nadhim Zahawi, appointed finance minister in last week’s turmoil, said he was also being targeted by rivals after media raised questions about the former man’s personal finances and tax record. ‘business.

Whoever wins the leadership race will face a daunting entry board.

Britain’s economy is facing soaring inflation, high debt and weak growth, with people facing the tightest strain on their finances in decades, all amid an energy crisis exacerbated by war in Ukraine which caused fuel prices to skyrocket.

On the issue of immigration, all the main leadership candidates have pledged to maintain the government’s policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, showing how the party has moved to the right of the political spectrum. these last years.

Other candidates include Attorney General Suella Braverman, Chairman of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Tom Tugendhat and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

In a speech, Labor leader Keir Starmer took aim at a ‘fantasy economy arms race’ of Tory leadership candidates, saying more than 200 billion pounds ($239 billion) in pledges made by them over the weekend were not funded.

Johnson declined to endorse any of the nominees.

($1 = 0.8357 pounds)

Reporting by Andrew MacAskill and Alistair Smout; Additional reporting by Muvija M and Kylie MacLellan; Written by Michael Holden; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Hugh Lawson and Jonathan Oatis

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