Sources say 1922 Committee may raise threshold of supporters required to 25 to narrow down crowded field
Conservative leadership hopefuls face a bruising week in which they must quickly scramble for supporters in what looks likely to be a dramatically accelerated contest to find Boris Johnson’s successor.
Figures on the committee are also likely to push for most, if not all, of the rounds of MP voting to take place next week, with the “serious contenders” facing off the following week – by 21 July at the latest, when the Commons goes into recess for the summer. This would allow a new PM to be installed by the end of August, allowing the victor to appoint new ministers with around a week to get on top of their brief before the Commons sits again from 5 September. “Allowing a new administration some sort of lead-in is good for the healthy governance of the country,” one MP said.
In a sign of the complex and fluid tactical considerations in a hugely open contest, one of the possible frontrunners, former health and foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt,Describing the Tatton MP and founder of the Blue Collar Conservatism group as the John Prescott to his Tony Blair, Hunt said he hoped she could help him appeal to voters in the north of England.
A string of candidates gave media interviews on Sunday, mainly concerning competing and often eye-catching plans to cut tax – but details of how this would be paid for were generally skirted over beyond broad outlines such as “growing the economy” or “government efficiencies”. Rishi Sunak, who resigned last week as chancellor, has called the idea of unfunded tax cuts “comforting fairytales” – and is reportedly the subject of negative briefings being circulated among some Tory MPs., who replaced Sunak as chancellor. On Sunday Zahawi dismissed claims circulating about his financial affairs as “smears”. He told Sky News he had “always” paid his taxes and had “declared” them in the UK.
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