Tory leadership race heats up; here is the list of probable candidates to replace Rishi Sunak

The Tories under the leadership of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have lost the elections to the House of Commons after 14 years. The former Prime Minister has said that he will continue to lead the Conservatives until it elects its new leader. None of the party’s 121 Members of Parliament (MP) have evinced their interesting in leading the party yet. This has been their worst performance in recent times. The Labour Party has completely swept the elections. Jeremy Hunt who is a popular candidate has ruled himself out of the race. This has been reported by the BBC. Here is a list of hopeful candidates:

Kemi Badenoch:

She has served as a Business Secretary and has run for the race previously. The MP from North-West Essex has continuously received high approval ratings from her party members. After the resignation of Boris Johnson, she emerged as the fourth most popular candidate in the race to replace him.

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Suella Braverman:

She remains a controversial figure in the political circles. In 2022, she was eliminated in the second round of voting after former PM Johnson’s resignation. She lost out to Rishi Sunak and served as the Home Secretary in his government. She was sacked in 2023 after she lashed out at the Police force and called them as biased after they failed to stop the pro-Palestine demonstrations.

Since her ouster, she has regularly criticized Rishi Sunak and his policies including the Rwanda deal.

James Cleverly:

He has been a MP since 2015 and has served in the cabinets of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. He became the first black Foreign Secretary and held the position before he moved to the Home Office after Suella Braverman was sacked. He is one of the popular candidates to head the party after its humiliating defeat.

Priti Patel:

She is one of the most experienced leaders of the party. She became a MP in 2010 and served as the International Development Secretary under Theresa May. Under Boris Johnson, she became the Home Secretary and introduced a point-based system of immigration. She successfully negotiated with Albania, Serbia and Rwanda to return the refugees entering Britain.

Tom Tugendhat:

He is the outgoing security minister. He had earlier contested against Liz Truss and lost the race.

Victoria Atkins:

She has been a Health Secretary and is considered to be a moderate. Further, she is among the few ministers who has retained her seat from the parliamentary constituency of Louth and Horncastle in Lincolnshire. She has won with a decreased majority.

Robert Jenrick:

He became a MP in 2014 and served as the Housing Minister under Boris Johnson. Recently he resigned as the Immigration Minister after failing to get through the Rwanda deal. He has managed to retain his seat from Newark.

FAQs:

How many members are elected to the House of Commons in the UK?
There are totally 650 members. A party seeking to form the government needs to win at least 326 seats in these elections.

Does the UK have a bi-party democracy like US?
The Britain has a multiparty democracy like India. There are more than three parties which are contesting the elections in the UK.