Let the Games Begin: First Bid for UK PM Seat Announced

On Thursday, Boris Johnson announced he was stepping down, but made it clear that he would continue to fulfill the role of the UK’s prime minister until his successor is appointed.

Chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) Tom Tugendhat has become the first Conservative MP to launch a leadership bid following Prime Minister Boris Johnson's announcement that he was resigning.

In an article published by the Daily Telegraph, the Tory backbencher urged his party “to make government work for the people once again” and “give them that clean start.”

He underscored that “as public servants,” the activity of his colleagues from the Conservative Party “must serve the interests of the British people.”

“I am putting together a broad coalition of colleagues that will bring new energy and ideas to government and, finally, to bridge the Brexit divide that has dominated our recent history. I have served before – in the military, and now in parliament. Now I hope to answer the call once again as prime minister. It’s time for a clean start. It’s time for renewal,” Tugendhat pointed out.

The remarks came as it emerged that Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, ex-Health Secretary Sajid David and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak remain favorites in the leadership race to replace Johnson, according to the latest opinion polls.

A survey conducted by the polling company JL Partners showed that Sunak is in the lead and remains the only one to be slightly ahead of the Labour Party’s Keir Starmer when put to head-to-head questions on who would make the best prime minister and who should be Tory leader.

Sajid Javid is in second place in the survey, while Wallace has become a bookmakers’ favorite based on polling of party members by the blog ConservativeHome.

Sunak and Javid resigned from government earlier this week, saying that they no longer have confidence in Johnson to lead the country, in the wake of the scandal pertaining to Tory deputy chief whip Christopher Pincher, who resigned earlier this month, admitting to having "drank far too much" amid reports that he groped two men in a London club.

Pincher already quit office once in 2017 after being accused of making a pass at ex-Olympic rower and Tory activist Alex Story. The Tory MP referred himself to police at the time, but was cleared of wrongdoing by a party probe.

The resignations of Sunak and Javid came shortly after BoJo admitted he had made a "bad mistake" in appointing Pincher to the role of deputy chief whip earlier this year, despite being made aware of previous allegations about the lawmaker’s misconduct. Apart from Sunak and Javid, a whole array of other government officials have stepped down amid the Pincher scandal.

Speaking before Johnson confirmed he had resigned in Downing Street on Thursday, Wallace, for his part, said “let’s see what the prime minister says” when asked if he would seek the job of UK prime minister.

Also signaling their intentions to succeed BoJo were Attorney General Suella Braverman, Minister of State for Trade Policy Penny Mordaunt, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi.

Michael Gove and Dominic Raab have ruled themselves out of the running, along with prominent Tory backbencher Tobias Ellwood.

Bloomberg news agency has, meanwhile, cited an unnamed source in the 1922 Committee as saying that the Conservative Party plans to reduce candidates to be the UK’s new prime minister to a final two by July 21, and have Johnson’s successor decided by September.

The source said that the process of selecting the final two candidates should be completed by July 21 because that is when the MPs go on their summer recess. According to the insider, it will then take about six weeks to complete the second part of the process, which will see grassroots Tories cast ballots and pick from the two candidates.

Johnson has been grappling with calls to resign after a series of scandals, including the “Partygate” row, which revealed that several social gatherings were held at BoJo’s offices throughout 2020 and 2021 in violation of the COVID-19 lockdown rules.

Senior civil servant Sue Gray's report into the “Partygate” affair, released in May, found "failures of leadership and judgement" at the seat of government, with Johnson apologizing but making clear at the time that he would get on with his job.