Who will succeed Boris Johnson in the UK? Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss wrestle in the intra-party power struggle – now for the first time in a TV duel. But not all Britons have a say. That arouses resentment. Still Prime Minister Johnson also makes headlines with contradictory statements about his resignation plans.
In the race to succeed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, ex-Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss exchanged tough blows on topics such as taxes, budgets and relations with China in their first TV debate. The two only agreed on one thing: a government post for incumbent Boris Johnson is out of the question.
The outgoing prime minister needs a “well-deserved break,” said Secretary of State Truss. “He will not be part of the government.” At the same time, she criticized the party’s decision to force Johnson to withdraw. “He made mistakes, but I don’t think the mistakes were enough for the Conservative Party to reject him,” Truss said. Ex-Treasury Secretary Sunak said Johnson would not be part of a government he led. “The answer is simple: no.” The party must look ahead.
Sunak’s focus on balancing the budget would push the economy into recession, Truss told Sunak. “It would be a big mistake to let the economy collapse in order to pay off debt faster.” She wants to act immediately because people are struggling to make ends meet. Her rival in the race for Tory party leadership raised taxes to “the highest rate in 70 years” as finance minister. Sunak countered that Truss’ promised tax cut was nothing more than a “sugar rush” for the economy, which would inevitably be followed by the crash. Sunak initially wants to wait for a decline in inflation, which is also comparatively high in Great Britain.
Truss announced that he would take action against Chinese technology groups like TikTok if he won. She accused Sunak of having taken too soft a course towards China in the past. A month ago he spoke out in favor of “closer trade relations with China”. The 46-year-old Foreign Minister commented on the fact that Sunak spoke out in favor of a tough course towards Beijing at the weekend with the words: “I am delighted that you have now agreed with my way of thinking.” Sunak, 42, countered that Truss has also made a shift with regard to China. She too has wanted closer relations with Beijing in the past.
Truss also advocated a continuation of Johnson’s high-spending government course. “Does anyone think it’s sensible to take a massive tens of billions of pounds of borrowing and fuel inflation even more?” asked Sunak, who repeatedly interrupted Truss during the televised duel. He initially wanted to wait for a decline in inflation, which is also comparatively high in Great Britain.
The opposition Labor Party said both candidates in the debate badmouthed the Conservative government’s record and neither had presented a plan to deal with the deepening cost-of-living crisis. UK inflation is on track to hit 11% a year, growth is stagnating, labor disputes are mounting and the pound is at an all-time low against the dollar.
Truss and Sunak had received enough votes in the last Conservative MPs vote to advance to the finals. Originally, eleven candidates had applied to succeed Johnson. Now the 200,000 members of the party are to decide by postal vote between Sunak and Truss as the future chairman or chairman. The result will be announced on September 5th.
The leader of the party automatically heads the government as the Tories are the largest party in the House of Commons. Before the debate, British media pointed out that Tory party members only inaccurately represent the entire population. The BBC quoted a study by Queen Mary University London as saying that more than half were older than 50 years. A poll of 1,032 voters by the polling firm Survation found that 39 percent of the British public thought Sunak had done best in the debate, versus 38 percent who thought Truss did better. It was the first of three TV duels.
Former Goldman Sachs banker Sunak has long been considered the favorite to succeed Johnson. He earned merits in the corona pandemic with a rescue program for the economy. However, given the skyrocketing cost of living, many Britons felt his ministry’s support was too low and the taxes too high. Like Johnson, Sunak was fined for breaching lockdown requirements.
Truss is considered the darling of the conservative party base, which decides on the successor. In Johnson’s government, she was foreign trade secretary for two years before the staunch Brexit supporter was appointed foreign secretary. Since last year she has also represented British positions as chief negotiator in Brussels at the EU. A YouGov poll of Conservative Party members released last week found Truss ahead of Sunak by 24 points in the race for party leadership.
Johnson did not resign after multiple misdemeanors. Only after the departure of numerous employees in protest did he announce his departure at the beginning of July. However, he intends to remain in office until the successor has been decided. Shortly before the debate, The Telegraph newspaper, citing former Treasury Secretary Peter Cruddas, reported that Johnson had said at a joint meal on Friday that he would prefer not to resign. However, other media immediately quoted government officials saying that Johnson was sticking to his planned resignation.
