UK Politics

A field of candidates to replace departing Prime Minister Boris Johnson began to take shape Friday, even as some Conservative Party lawmakers pushed to get the scandal-tarnished leader out of office before his replacement is elected in the next couple of months.Johnson announced his resignation on Thursday — a dizzying about-face after months spent insisting he would stay in his job amid mounting ethics scandals and growing Conservative discontent. He quit as party leader with a statement to the nation outside 10 Downing St., but said he would stay in post as prime minister until his successor is chosen by the party. That decision didn’t sit well with some of his Conservative colleagues, who worry Johnson lacks the authority to hang on, or could do mischief even as a caretaker prime minister. James Cleverly, appointed as education secretary on Thursday after his predecessor quit during a mass exodus of ministers, defended Johnson’s decision to stay.“It’s right that he has stood down and it’s right that he has put a team in place to continue governing whilst the selection procedure flows for his successor,” Cleverly told Sky News. “And we should do that I think pretty quickly, pretty promptly.”RecommendedParty officials are due to set out the timetable for a leadership contest on Monday, with the aim of having a winner by the end of the summer. The two-step process involves Tory lawmakers voting to reduce the field of candidates to two, who will go to a ballot of all party members across the country.Lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the House of Commons’ influential Foreign Affairs Committee, became the second candidate to declare he is running, after Attorney General Suella Braverman. Former Health Secretary Sajid Javid and ex-Treasury chief Rishi Sunak — whose resignations this week helped topple Johnson — are also likely contenders, along with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.Even as contenders launch their campaigns, Johnson remains in office atop a caretaker administration formed from a dwindling band of loyalists alongside ministers who have agreed to stay in office to keep government running.Johnson has promised not to make any major policy decisions in his remaining time, but many Conservatives say a lame-duck leader is the last thing the country needs amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and a worsening cost-of-living crisis triggered by soaring food and energy prices.Some also are wary of Johnson’s intentions after a resignation speech in which he made clear he didn’t want to leave, but had failed “to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we’re delivering so much and when we have such a vast mandate.” George Freeman, who quit as science minister on Thursday, said he worried about a leadership election being held in “a febrile moment of midsummer madness, where we choose the wrong person in a hurry because of the instability.”Some had pushed for Johnson to give way and let Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab step in as temporary leader. But lawmaker Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, treasurer of the Conservative committee that runs party leadership contests, said “that ship has sailed.”“We must now live with the fact that Boris Johnson will be prime minister until a successor can be voted on,” he said.The main opposition Labour Party said that was unacceptable and vowed to call for a no-confidence vote in Johnson in the House of Commons next week, though prospects of its success were uncertain.“He’s a proven liar who’s engulfed in sleaze and we can’t have another couple of months of this, you know,” Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said. “So they do have to get rid of him, and if they don’t, we will call a no-confidence vote because it’s pretty clear — he hasn’t got the confidence of the House or the British public.”The brash, 58-year-old politician who took Britain out of the European Union and has been at the helm at the height of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine survived scandals over his expenses and lockdown-breaking government parties during the pandemic. He was brought down by one scandal too many — this one involving his appointment of a politician who had been accused of sexual misconduct.Johnson faced days of questions, and gave days of conflicting answers, over what he knew about past allegations against Chris Pincher, a Conservative lawmaker who resigned as party deputy chief whip last week after allegedly groping two men at a private club. Pincher acknowledged he had got drunk and “embarrassed myself.”Johnson offered shifting explanations about what he knew and when he knew it. That just brought concerns the prime minister couldn’t be trusted to boiling point.Javid and Sunak, key Cabinet members who were responsible, respectively, for fighting COVID-19 and inflation, resigned within minutes of each other Tuesday, setting off a wave of departures by their colleagues.Johnson clung to power for days, defiantly telling lawmakers on Wednesday that he had a “colossal mandate” from the voters and intended to get on with the business of governing.His resignation the next day was a humiliating defeat for a politician whose jokey bluster brought a celebrity status unmatched in British politics — but who was accused of behaving as if the rules didn’t apply to him.Recommended___Follow all of AP’s coverage of Prime Minister Boris Johnson at https://apnews.com/hub/boris-johnson More

Angela Rayner has suggested she will not appeal if fined by Durham Police for a breach of Covid rules and said the party will be able to find new leadership “very quickly” if required.In a high-stakes gamble both Labour’s deputy leader and Sir Keir Starmer have pledged to resign if issued with a fixed penalty notice, but have repeatedly insisted no rules were broken when beer and curry was consumed after a campaigning event in April 2021.The pair returned questionnaires to Durham Constabulary three weeks’ ago and are awaiting the verdict of detectives’ investigations.Asked if she and Sir Keir will not appeal against the police’s conclusions, the Labour deputy leader told BBC’s Today programme: “Well, yeah, we’ll accept the findings. “You know, it’s very clear that both myself and Keir believe that we believe in the rule of law.Recommended“We believe that if you’re a lawmaker, you can’t be a lawbreaker, and that we couldn’t lead the party under those conditions,” she added.“We’ve got a prime minister who spent the last couple of months trying to cling to power that has devastated the British public and we’ve not been dealing with the issues that matter to them”.Pressed on how quickly Labour would have a new leader in place, Ms Rayner replied: “Well, we could do it very quickly.“I mean, our procedures would be that the NEC would delegate the timetable, but we’ve got a host of talent in our party that could step forward, because we are one team and we are a government in waiting.But she stressed: “As I say, both myself and Keir are very confident that we didn’t break any rules.Recommended“We were very clear of the contract with the British public when we voted for those restrictions that they were in place to keep people safe and we adhered to those and we’ve complied with Durham police and we’ll continue to do (so).“We’re very confident that we’ll continue to lead our party as we have done since we were both elected into victory so that we can govern for the British people and deal with a cost-of-living crisis and things that matter to them.” More

Who could replace Boris Johnson in the role of prime minister?
Sir Keir Starmer has called for a general election as Labour grew its lead over the Tories during a chaotic week of rebellions in Westminser. The opposition leader said his party was “ready” for an election as he made a speech after escaping a fine over the “Beergate” row. “Let’s get on with it,” he said, adding: “If there’s a general election this government will fall.”Both Sir Keir and Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, had pledged to resign had they been given fixed-penalty notices. But Durham Constabulary said there was no case to answer after they were photographed mixing with others during Covid restrictions.Meanwhile, Boris Johnson is facing mounting calls to leave office straight away after vowing to remain in Downing Street until his successor is chosen. He said earlier this week he would be stepping down as leader after more than 50 MPs quit government in protest at his leadership, while others withdrew support. RecommendedShow latest update

1657290650Brexit and Northern Ireland: free eventChief political commentator John Rentoul hosts an expert panel for a virtual event on the Northern Ireland protocol: More

Boris Johnson’s would-be successors to lead the Conservative Party and the country are quietly getting their leadership campaigns under way, after the prime minister announced his resignation on Thursday.No clear favourite has emerged in the first few frenzied hours after the prime minister’s unusual resignation speech outside No 10, during which he mourned the “eccentric” Tory revolt which finally forced him to quit.Deputy PM Dominic Raab and ex-cabinet minister Michael Gove, described by a No 10 source as “a snake” after he turned on Mr Johnson, have ruled themselves out, The Independent understands. But around a dozen MPs are believed to be preparing campaigns or canvassing support. The crowded contest threatens to become akin to the “wacky races”, said backbencher Steve Brine.Tory backbencher Tom Tugendhat became the first contender to throw his hat into the ring on Thursday night. The chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, who has never served in government, said he would offer the party a “fresh start”.RecommendedWriting in The Daily Telegraph, he said: “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.”Mr Tugendhat earlier received a major boost over Jeremy Hunt in his bid to win the support of Tory moderates when Damian Green, leader of the One Nation caucus, backed him to be the next PM.Mr Green told Sky News: “Having a fresh start with someone who is not in the cabinet and is determined to restore the highest standards will be exactly what the country wants … You can take it that Tom is going to run.”Former chancellor Rishi Sunak and ex-health secretary Sajid Javid effectively launched their bids for the top job by quitting on Tuesday evening. However, both contenders kept their heads down as the PM finally accepted the game was up on Thursday. Ben Wallace also stayed quiet, defending his decision to remain defence secretary as “an obligation to keep this country safe”. He is viewed as a favourite among members, topping this week’s online Conservative Home survey of the party grassroots. RecommendedTrade minister Penny Mordaunt – believed to have put her campaign team in place – is also being viewed as a serious contender. The ardent Leave campaigner came second only to Mr Wallace in this week’s grassroots survey. Mr Hunt, the former health secretary understood to be keen on a second leadership bid, kept quiet on Thursday – though he did post a selfie on Instagram of himself on the phone looking serious.Nadhim Zahawi is also believed to be considering a leadership bid, despite a whirlwind 48 hours which saw him named chancellor on Tuesday before he headed back into Downing Street the following evening to advise Mr Johnson that his time was up.Mr Zahawi has been “secretly” working with close allies of Tory election strategist Sir Lynton Crosby on a possible leadership campaign for months, according to The Times. It is not yet clear whether home secretary Priti Patel or transport secretary Grant Shapps could throw their hats in the ring. The Johnson loyalists were also part of a delegation of ministers who headed into No 10 on Wednesday night to tell the PM his time was over. Foreign secretary Liz Truss, a Remainer in 2016 who has boosted her credentials with Brexiteers with her hardline stance on the protocol, cut short her trip to Indonesia on Thursday and called for “calmness and unity” in the weeks ahead.Tory ally Alec Shelbrooke said he would be backing Ms Truss to be leader. “When I look at what we need to do to help deliver the manifesto, get those Brexit benefits … Liz Truss is going to be the best person to deliver that,” said the Remain campaigner. Steve Baker, the self-declared Brexit “hardman”, said he was considering throwing his hat in the ring. Asked by TalkTV who would be in his first cabinet, the ex-chair of the European Research Group (ERG) named Mr Wallace and Mr Sunak – saying the ex-chancellor had “unfulfilled potential”.Jake Berry, leader of the Northern Research Group (NRG), is also thought to be considering a leadership bid. Although he has been in parliament since 2010, he remains an influential figure among many of the “red wall” MPs who won seats in the north and Midlands in 2019. There has been speculation the 2019 intake of younger MPs could be agreed as a “new generation” candidate. But one MP in the group told The Independent that there was no current plan for someone to step forward.The attorney general Suella Braverman told ITV’s Peston on Wednesday that she would put her name into the ring. A Braverman for PM Twitter account sprung up on Thursday – with Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne becoming the first to support for her bid.Despite the apparent popularity of Mr Wallace and Ms Mordaunt in grassroots surveys, former No 10 pollster James Johnson shared more extensive polling of the general public which showed Mr Sunak was the most popular choice to be PM. Some 14 per cent of voters opted for the former chancellor as their top choice in the JL Partners poll, ahead of the Mr Javid and Mr Hunt (both on 7 per cent) and Ms Truss and Mr Wallace (both on 4 per cent).Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is not standing, trashed the legacy of Mr Sunak in an interview with Channel 4 – claiming he was “not a successful chancellor” and a “high tax chancellor”. Mr Wallace beats all other contenders in the most recent YouGov poll of Tory members, who will ultimately decide who becomes PM when two final two candidates are presented to them in late July or early August.The 1922 Committee’s executive is under pressure to have the initial field of candidates down to two by 21 July, when parliament breaks for summer. A hustings process for members would be expected to last around a month before a new leader is elected – and new PM in place – by the start of September. More

All of Britain will be watching as the race to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister gets underway but only the Conservative party’s membership of 200,000 people has the ultimate say in who is next to lead the country.At least they are experienced in making such a choice: the departing leader was voted in by party members in 2019 and sat in Downing Street for months before asking the rest of the public whether they were happy for him to be there.Mr Johnson was the third Tory leader to be crowned by members since they were given a say in the matter back in the 2000s – it was previously up to party MPs alone. But while all manner of details about MPs are on the public record, relatively little is known about the more populous Tory electorate.Political parties are not obliged to reveal much about their members – though they tend to boast when numbers swell – so what is known about the paid-up Conservative grassroots comes mainly from opinion polls and academic studies.Research by Queen Mary University of London and the University of Sussex revealed the Tory membership to be far from reflective of the UK population at large. In 2019 at least, they were much whiter, older and more likely to be male than the wider public.RecommendedLast year, then-Tory chair Amanda Milling said there had been a rise in young members under Mr Johnson’s leadership but did not share figures.As for the views of the party, leading pollster YouGov does the odd members-only survey, mostly when the leadership is in question (members agreed with Mr Johnson’s resignation and wanted Ben Wallace to replace him). More

Tory backbencher Tom Tugendhat has become the first candidate in the race to succeed Boris Johnson.The chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC), a Tory centrist who has never served in government, said he would offer the party a “fresh start”.Writing in The Daily Telegraph, the former soldier said: “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.”At least four Tory MPs had endorsed Mr Tugendhat before he went public with his bid. Damian Green, a former minister, said: “I’m supporting Tom Tugendhat. Recommended“We need a clean start, a fresh start, we need to get on with resetting the Conservative Party and resetting government more widely in this country so that it gets back to being properly run, observing the conventions, supporting the institutions that we have in this country.”Mr Tugendhat was openly critical of the man he hopes to replace in the months before Mr Johnson resigned. He clashed with the outgoing prime minister in FAC hearings and condemned Britain’s hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan last year.The Tonbridge and Malling MP hinted he would run back in January when the future of Mr Johnson’s leadership was thrown into doubt by revelations of parties in Downing Street. Mr Tugendhat said he would “go for it” if the opportunity arose and questioned the reticence of colleagues to admit their ambitions. “I don’t think you should be embarrassed to want to serve your country, I was very proud to serve my country. Of course I want to have an influence that helps to shape the country for the best,” he said.Though he may be little known outside Westminster, Mr Tugendhat has made himself known among colleagues for his hawkish views on China. He co-founded and remains co-chair of the China Research Goup of MPs which calls for greater caution in Britain’s dealings with the rising eastern superpower.His competitors in the Tory leadership race were uncertain: Suella Braverman said she would run but had not formally announced a bid by Thursday evening.Tory heavyweight Michael Gove ruled out a third run at the leadership after his previous failures. Dominic Raab, Mr Johnson’s deputy, also said he would not stand.Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss were all thought to be considering bids, with Ms Mordaunt the bookies’ favourite among them. The PA news agency reported that former health secretary Sajid Javid and transport secretary Grant Shapps were also considering standing. Brexit hardliner Steve Baker said he was “seriously considering” throwing his hat into the ring.RecommendedBen Wallace, the defence secretary, was also likely to announce a leadership bid after coming top of a poll of Conservative members, the small electorate who will ultimately decide the next leader.Mr Tugendhat and Mr Junt were the favourites in a poll of readers of The Independent, respectively taking 24 per cent and 22 per cent of the vote. More

Nadine Dorries’ call for the time limit for abortions to be reduced by four weeks has provoked outrage among health care professionals. The culture secretary argued the legal cut-off point for pregnancy terminations in the UK – which is 24 weeks – should be reduced by a month.But the Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire, who is also the patient safety minister, told Times Radio she is pro-choice – as well as also calling for the rule which stipulates two doctors need to consent to an abortion must be axed.Katherine O’Brien, of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), the UK’s leading abortion provider, told The Independent Ms Dorries’ calls to curb the abortion time limit were “abhorrent”.She said: “It was absolutely extraordinary at a moment of huge political crisis, a cabinet member had chosen this as an opportunity to attack abortion rights. “When the government collapses around her, she decides to attack abortion rights. It is also extraordinary as just last week Dominic Raab said abortion was a settled issue in this country yet government members in the highest offices are looking to restrict abortion.”RecommendedMs O’Brien noted women who seek abortions after the 20-week cut-off point are “often in the most incredibly difficult of circumstances”.She added: “They may have had a diagnosis of foetal anomaly with a very much wanted pregnancy or they may be young girls who haven’t had regular periods so don’t realise that they are pregnant.”Ms O’Brien argued Ms Dorries’ position on the abortion time limit demonstrates “a complete lack of understanding for the reasons people have abortions post 20 weeks”.“Nobody wants to have an abortion,” she added. “Let alone a late-term abortion that involves surgery. It is a difficult procedure. It is not something anyone wants to go through.”RecommendedMs Dorries has repeatedly called for the time limit for abortions to be curtailed from 24 weeks down to 20 and sought to overhaul legislation to relinquish abortion providers’ part in counselling women.Louise McCudden, of MSI Reproductive Choices UK, another leading abortion provider, said: “There is no clinical justification or evidence base for reducing the abortion time limit, and this would contradict guidance from the World Health Organisation.“The vast majority of abortions happen under 10 weeks. The extremely rare cases that do take place over 20 weeks are usually complex and sensitive cases, such as fatal foetal abnormality or young girls who have been raped or taken a longer time to realise they were pregnant.“Criminalising women and health providers in these situations benefits no one. Rather than restricting time limits, we should be looking at ways to better protect women and girls against our outdated abortion laws.”A study, carried out by YouGov and MSI Reproductive Choices UK, previously found nine in 10 UK adults think women should be able to access abortion services in Britain and specifically identify as being “pro-choice”.Commenting on Ms Dorries’ comments, Pam Lowe, a sociologist who specialises in anti-abortion activism in the UK, said: “The anti-abortion movement often focuses on issues such as reducing the time limit as a step-by-step strategy to restrict abortion more generally.”Dr Lowe, a senior lecturer in sociology and policy at Aston University, argued this form of “tactic was successfully used by” anti-abortion groups in many states in America.She added: “Despite what some believe, abortions later in pregnancy are not feckless decisions by irresponsible women, but usually due to circumstances outside of their control, such as a complication in pregnancy or difficulties in accessing abortion services earlier.”RecommendedWhile Dani Anderson, of the Abortion Support Network, insisted that “no medical basis” exists for an amendment to the legal limit for having an abortion.“Reducing the limit will cause serious risk to women’s lives,” she added. “Second-trimester abortions are a vital part of medical care and what we need now is the decriminalisation of abortion, rather than following in America’s footsteps and restricting access even further.”In the UK, abortions are allowed up to 23 weeks and six days of pregnancy but can be performed later if continuing with the pregnancy poses a significant risk to the life of the woman or there are serious foetal abnormalities.Abortions are still deemed a criminal act in England, Scotland and Wales under the 1967 Abortion Act. If any medical professional delivers an abortion out of the terms of the act, they are at risk of facing criminal punishment.Legislation passed in 1861 means any woman who ends a pregnancy without getting legal permission from two doctors, who must agree continuing with it would be risky for the woman’s physical or mental health, can face up to life imprisonment. But abortion providers, charities, medical bodies, and MPs have spent years demanding abortion is decriminalised in the UK.The criticism levied at Ms Dorries comes after the US Supreme Court dismantled Roe v Wade – the landmark decision that legalised abortion nationwide in 1973 – at the end of last month. More