On Monday the process will begin to replace Theresa May as leader of the ruling Conservative Party.
Members of Parliament of the British Conservative Party will on Monday see the confirmed list of their colleagues who want to become leader instead of May when nominations close at 5 p.m.
The party’s 1922 committee of backbenchers will then list the candidates who have made it through to the first vote on Thursday afternoon.
A record 11 candidates are challenging for the top post after former leader and still Prime Minister Theresa May sent in her letter of resignation on Friday.
Due to the high number of applicants, there will be several rounds of voting among the party’s 313 lawmakers to narrow the field.
Two remaining candidates will then go forward to a runoff vote among the party membership, which is believed to number about 150,000, but there are no published and audited records to verify the figure.
A decision is expected by the end of July, just in time for the new leader to make a statement in the House of Commons before the assembly closes for a summer break in August. It will be back in session at the start of September.
Campaigning among the candidates on policies and promises has been mixed with revelations about their behavior, leading to doubts they can garner support.
Michael Gove’s challenge is in the balance after a new book revealed he had taken cocaine on several occasions when working as a journalist 20 years ago.
Johnson also admitted in a GQ interview in 2007 to trying cocaine and cannabis at university.
Hunt said he had a “cannabis lassi” in India, Leadsom smoked cannabis at university. Dominic Raab admitted taking cannabis as a student; Rory Stewart smoked opium in Afghanistan; a friend of Matt Hancock’s said he “tried cannabis a few times,” while Esther McVey told the BBC she had “tried some pot.” Savid Javid, Mark Harper and Sam Gyimah have denied ever taking drugs.
May resigned after she failed to get the Withdrawal Bill through parliament three times.
Appealing to the hard-line Brexiteers in the Conservative party membership, the candidates have all claimed they can present a better Brexit than May. Several are threatening to take the UK out of Europe at the end of October, without an agreement. Johnson is saying he would refuse to pay the UK’s agreed debts to the EU during its membership.
The candidates so far:
- Michael Gove: Environment secretary who has been an MP for Surrey Heath since 2005.
- Sam Gyimah: the former universities and science minister, has been an MP for East Surrey since 2010.
- Matt Hancock: A MP for West Suffolk and was promoted to health secretary after a few months as culture secretary
- Mark Harper: A MP for the Forest of Dean and was a minister in the Home Office and Department of Work and Pensions from 2010-2015.
- Jeremy Hunt: Foreign secretary who worked for six years at the Department of Health prior to his move to the foreign office.
- Sajid Javid: The Home Secretary and is a second-generation migrant whose parents came from Pakistan.
- Boris Johnson: Former mayor of London and Foreign Secretary and was the face of the Vote Leave campaign.
- Andrea Leadsom: Prominent Brexiteer and former Commons leader who quit the cabinet as May tried to gain support for her withdrawal agreement saying that she did not believe in the government’s approach.
- Esther McVey: A former TV presenter and Brexiteer Esther McVey quit as work and pensions secretary in November in protest at Mrs May’s Brexit deal.
- Dominic Raab: A staunch Brexiteer Dominic Raab called for Britain to leave the EU long before the referendum.
- Rory Stewart: The former prisons minister was appointed international development secretary in early May after Gavin Williamson was sacked.
