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Former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss were the last two candidates left standing to replace Johnson from an original field of eight, it was revealed on Wednesday.
Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt was eliminated from contention, finishing with 105 votes from MPs. Sunak received 137 votes, while Truss garnered 113 votes.
The two contenders will spend the next few weeks campaigning for the votes of about 180,000 Conservative Party members around the country, who will vote by postal or online ballot. The winner of the party leadership vote will be announced Sept. 5 and will automatically become prime minister.
The bitter campaign has exposed deep divisions in the Conservative Party at the end of Johnson’s scandal-tarnished three-year reign. Opponents have branded Sunak a “socialist” for raising taxes in response to the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Sunak has hit back that his rivals are peddling economic “fairy tales.”
The contenders are all trying to distance themselves from Johnson, whose term in office began boldly in 2019 with a vow to “get Brexit done” and a resounding election victory, but is now ending in disgrace.
Labour gets final digs in on Johnson
Parliament adjourns for the summer on Thursday.
Johnson, who quit July 7 after months of ethics scandals but remains caretaker leader, faced derisive opposition politicians and weary Conservatives at his last Prime Minister’s Questions session in the House of Commons.
In front of a jeering crowd, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson struck a defiant tone while announcing his resignation after a run of scandals throughout his tenure.
It was a downbeat departure, with supportive Conservative backbenchers lobbing praise and opposition politicians offering variations on “good riddance.”
Johnson extolled what he called his accomplishments — leading Britain out of the European Union and through COVID-19, and supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion — and declared: “Mission largely accomplished, for now,” before departing with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “hasta la vista” catchphrase from Terminator 2.
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said: “I will miss the delusion.”
Johnson urged to resign immediately
Johnson clung to office through months of scandals over his finances and his judgment, refusing to resign when he was fined by police over government parties that broke COVID-19 lockdown rules.
He finally quit after one scandal too many — appointing a politician accused of sexual misconduct — drove his ministers to resign en masse.
Despite remaining prime minister, he has largely disappeared from the scene, even as Britain faces a summer cost-of-living crisis and labour discontent as inflation hit 9.4 per cent, per the latest economist report.
Johnson did not attend any government emergency meetings about the heat wave that brought temperatures of 40 C to Britain this week. Last week he took a ride in a Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jet, with Top Gun-style footage released by his office, then threw a weekend party at Chequers, the country house that comes with the prime minister’s job.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who represents the opposition Labour Party, accused Johnson of wanting to “become Tom Cruise” and urged him to resign immediately.
“We need a full-time prime minister looking after our country rather than somebody who’s checked out,” Khan said.
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