Great Britain After debacle: British Tories begin election of party leader

Following their defeat in the UK general election, the Conservatives are beginning the process of electing a new party leader.

At stake is the successor to former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The 44-year-old lost the general election with his Conservative Tories and subsequently announced that he would also be stepping down as party leader.

For the first time in 14 years, the social democratic Labor Party is now back in power in the United Kingdom with the new Prime Minister Keir Starmer (62). The Conservative Party, on the other hand, has to reorganize itself.

Who is entering the race

Six candidates now want to succeed Sunak as party leader. The process to find the new party leader in the coming weeks is due to begin today.

Ex-economy minister Kemi Badenoch (44) and ex-home secretary James Cleverly (54) are said to have good chances. According to the British news agency PA, many MPs also support the former Secretary of State for Migration Robert Jenrick (42) - so far he has the public support of 17 party members, compared to 13 for Badenoch. The Tory parliamentary group has 121 members following the election debacle.

Badenoch, Jenrick and also the former Home Secretary Priti Patel (52) are counted among the right wing of the party. Cleverly, on the other hand, is known as a more moderate politician, like former Secretary of State for Security Tom Tugendhat (51) and former Labor Minister Mel Stride (62).

However, experts assume that the Conservative Party will move further to the right either way in response to the electoral success of the right-wing populist Reform UK party. The party of Nigel Farage, who once played a key role in pushing for Brexit, entered parliament for the first time with five members in the election at the beginning of July.

New party leadership by November

The 121 members of the Conservative parliamentary group in the Tory party will now vote in several rounds over a period of weeks until two of the six names on the list of candidates are left.

The party base will then decide who it will be. The result will be announced on November 2. The winner will then also appear in parliament as the new leader of the opposition.

SDA