Race to succeed UK PM May begins with ten candidates nominated

[webfact]

Race to succeed UK PM May begins with ten candidates nominated

 

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May addresses guests with a speech to mark the start of London Tech Week in London, Britain June 10, 2019. Leon Neal/Pool via REUTERS

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Ten candidates were nominated in the contest to succeed Theresa May as Conservative Party leader and prime minister, the party's 1922 Committee said on Monday.

 

The candidates include frontrunner former foreign minister Boris Johnson, his successor Jeremy Hunt, environment minister Michael Gove, former Brexit minister Dominic Raab, health minister Matt Hancock and interior minister Sajid Javid.

 

The other candidates are international development minister Rory Stewart, former minister Esther McVey, former leader of the House of Commons Andrea Leadsom and Conservative lawmaker Mark Harper.

 

The first round of voting among Conservative lawmakers to begin whittling down the field to two candidates, who will then be put to a vote of party members, will take place on Thursday.

 

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Kylie MacLellan. Editing by Andrew MacAskill)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-06-11

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[webfact]

British candidates for PM take aim at favourite Johnson

By William James and Elizabeth Piper

 

Boris Johnson speaks at the Conservative Home fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Britain, October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Darren Staples/Files

 

LONDON (Reuters) - A host of candidates to replace Theresa May as British prime minister launched their campaigns on Monday promising to solve the turmoil of Brexit and taking shots at frontrunner Boris Johnson.

 

May stepped down as leader of the ruling Conservative Party on Friday, having failed three times to win parliament's support for a European Union divorce deal that was supposed to steer the country smoothly out of the bloc and deal with Britain's biggest political crisis in a generation.

 

Nominations to replace her had to be submitted on Monday, and the party's 1922 Committee, which is running the contest, said 10 candidates had achieved the required support of at least eight of the Conservatives' 300-plus elected lawmakers.

 

An 11th, Sam Gyimah, withdrew shortly before the announcement saying he had not been able to build sufficient support. He was the only one to support holding a second Brexit referendum.

 

Conservative lawmakers will hold their first round of voting on Thursday to begin narrowing the field.

 

The public campaign launches on Monday all set out domestic agendas, but it was Brexit that dominated, with overt and thinly-veiled digs at former foreign minister Johnson.

 

"If I get through, which I am sure I will actually, to the final two against Mr Johnson, this is what I will say to him: 'Mr Johnson, whatever you do, don’t pull out'," said environment minister Michael Gove, who scuppered Johnson’s 2016 leadership bid by pulling his support at the last moment to run himself.

 

"I know you have before, and I know you may not believe in your heart that you can do it, but the Conservative Party membership deserve a choice'."

 

Nearly all the hopefuls promised they could solve the Brexit conundrum - which eluded May in three years of EU talks - in just three months, between the new leader being chosen at the end of July and the current exit date of Oct. 31.

 

"From my conversations with European leaders, it is clear to me there is a deal to be done; they want us to come up with proposals," current foreign minister Jeremy Hunt said.

 

If the issue was not sorted out, he said, the party would be annihilated in an election and socialist Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn would take power.

 

'THE BREXITEER YOU CAN RELY ON'

Dominic Raab, who quit as Brexit minister over May's divorce deal, said he too could secure a new agreement but promised that the United Kingdom would leave the EU on Oct. 31, even if that meant reverting to basic World Trade Organization trade terms.

"I'm the Brexiteer that you can rely on," he said.

 

Others, including Johnson, have made the same promise to leave on time even if it means giving up on a deal with the EU that would smooth the transition.

 

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told a meeting of his lawmakers on Monday that Labour would never accept a 'no-deal' exit. "We will work on a cross-party basis to block a 'no-deal' outcome," he said.

 

The differences between the candidates reflect Conservative disunity on the issue, which has meant that, three years after the United Kingdom voted by 52% to 48% to quit the EU, it remains unclear how, when or even whether it will indeed leave.

 

The uncertainty has hit Britain's economy, which shrank by 0.4% in April, official figures showed on Monday - a bigger drop than any economist had forecast in a Reuters poll last week.

 

Johnson is not only the bookmakers' clear favourite but, according to polls, the most popular with the 160,000 party members who will ultimately make the choice.

 

He did not hold a high-profile campaign launch on Monday, but his rivals lined up to take potshots at him and his pledge to raise the point at which workers begin paying a 40% income tax to 80,000 pounds ($102,000) annual pay from 50,000 pounds.

 

"One thing I will never do as prime minister is to use our tax and benefits system to give the already wealthy another tax cut," said Gove, another frontrunner who was trying to get his own campaign back on track after admitting taking cocaine when he was a young journalist.

 

Critics accused him of hypocrisy, noting that, in a previous role as education minister, he had signed off on rules to ban teachers for life for taking cocaine.

 

'WE NEED A SERIOUS LEADER'

Others took aim at Johnson, a flamboyant former London mayor, alluding to past criticism that he favoured style over substance and failed to grasp details.

 

"We won't get a good deal with bluff and bluster," said Raab, one of the most hardline Brexit advocates.

 

Hunt, another of the favourites, said "a serious moment calls for a serious leader". "We need tough negotiations," he said, "not empty rhetoric".

 

Hunt's own campaign received a significant boost on Monday when two ministers with opposing views on Brexit - pensions minister Amber Rudd and defence minister Penny Mordaunt - endorsed him.

 

While the battle unfolds, May remains prime minister. Her replacement is due to be in place by the end of July.

 

(Additional reporting by Kate Holton and Kylie MacLellan; Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Jon Boyle, Kevin Liffey and Frances Kerry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-06-11

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[evadgib]

Esther McVey's launch didn't quite go to plan but she nontheless applauded and thanked her gate-crasher (in footage seen elsewhere) for ensuring that her launch hit the headlines.

Edited June 11, 2019 by evadgib

[Laughing Gravy]

I believe it will be Johnson and Hunt as 1 and 2. Hunt isn't my choice. Either way a brexiteer cabinet will have remainers frothing with anger. Well you had 3 years and look what happened.

[evadgib]

1 minute ago, Laughing Gravy said:

I believe it will be Johnson and Hunt as 1 and 2. Hunt isn't my choice. Either way a brexiteer cabinet will have remainers frothing with anger. Well you had 3 years and look what happened.

Hunt seems to be their 'Stop Boris' candidate. McVey is probably the best of them but I am far from optimistic as to where it's all going.

[Laughing Gravy]

4 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Hunt seems to be their 'Stop Boris' candidate. McVey is probably the best of them but I am far from optimistic as to where it's all going.

Yes agree on Hunt. I like McVey too. Would be good as home secretary for me no nonsense attitude. Hopefully Boris will get the parties grass root support. Hunt, well ask NHS workers about him. His name rhymes like a.......!.

[Basil B]

Let the backstabbing begin...

[Laughing Gravy]

3 minutes ago, Basil B said:

Let the backstabbing begin...

It has already started. Gove yesterday on Johnson. Do you think it would be different elsewhere.

Looking forward to a brexiteer PM. Brussels are bricking it.

[dick dasterdly]

"Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told a meeting of his lawmakers on Monday that Labour would never accept a 'no-deal' exit. "We will work on a cross-party basis to block a 'no-deal' outcome," he said."

 

And we already know what this means - the appalling eu/may 'deal'.  The 'deal' that is SO bad,  it has been rejected by the largely remainer parliament 3 times already....

 

Why on earth would anyone in their right mind believe that making it clear they will accept any appalling deal - rather than making it clear that no deal is always on the table - is a good idea???

 

[Thingamabob]

Boris Johnson/Esther McVey combination looks good to me.

[sawadee1947]

18 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

"Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told a meeting of his lawmakers on Monday that Labour would never accept a 'no-deal' exit. "We will work on a cross-party basis to block a 'no-deal' outcome," he said."

 

And we already know what this means - the appalling eu/may 'deal'.  The 'deal' that is SO bad,  it has been rejected by the largely remainer parliament 3 times already....

It doesn't mean it is a bad deal only because you Can't agree on it. 

If you don't like it in majority there is always the option to stay and remain untill you got a plan. At present all your candidates are making promises without having a plan. 

 

[sawadee1947]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Johnson is not only the bookmakers' clear favourite but, according to polls, the most popular with the 160,000 party members who will ultimately make the choice.

I will never understand why UK will follow a pure populist with no plan how to tackle the problem just to achieve the same job as his buddy Cameron? Johnson doesn't do it for UK's benefit but for his own Only. 

[sawadee1947]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

British candidates for PM take aim at favourite Johnson

By William James and Elizabeth Piper

 

Boris Johnson speaks at the Conservative Home fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Britain, October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Darren Staples/Files

 

LONDON (Reuters) - A host of candidates to replace Theresa May as British prime minister launched their campaigns on Monday promising to solve the turmoil of Brexit and taking shots at frontrunner Boris Johnson.

 

May stepped down as leader of the ruling Conservative Party on Friday, having failed three times to win parliament's support for a European Union divorce deal that was supposed to steer the country smoothly out of the bloc and deal with Britain's biggest political crisis in a generation.

 

Nominations to replace her had to be submitted on Monday, and the party's 1922 Committee, which is running the contest, said 10 candidates had achieved the required support of at least eight of the Conservatives' 300-plus elected lawmakers.

 

An 11th, Sam Gyimah, withdrew shortly before the announcement saying he had not been able to build sufficient support. He was the only one to support holding a second Brexit referendum.

 

Conservative lawmakers will hold their first round of voting on Thursday to begin narrowing the field.

 

The public campaign launches on Monday all set out domestic agendas, but it was Brexit that dominated, with overt and thinly-veiled digs at former foreign minister Johnson.

 

"If I get through, which I am sure I will actually, to the final two against Mr Johnson, this is what I will say to him: 'Mr Johnson, whatever you do, don’t pull out'," said environment minister Michael Gove, who scuppered Johnson’s 2016 leadership bid by pulling his support at the last moment to run himself.

 

"I know you have before, and I know you may not believe in your heart that you can do it, but the Conservative Party membership deserve a choice'."

 

Nearly all the hopefuls promised they could solve the Brexit conundrum - which eluded May in three years of EU talks - in just three months, between the new leader being chosen at the end of July and the current exit date of Oct. 31.

 

"From my conversations with European leaders, it is clear to me there is a deal to be done; they want us to come up with proposals," current foreign minister Jeremy Hunt said.

 

If the issue was not sorted out, he said, the party would be annihilated in an election and socialist Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn would take power.

 

'THE BREXITEER YOU CAN RELY ON'

Dominic Raab, who quit as Brexit minister over May's divorce deal, said he too could secure a new agreement but promised that the United Kingdom would leave the EU on Oct. 31, even if that meant reverting to basic World Trade Organization trade terms.

"I'm the Brexiteer that you can rely on," he said.

 

Others, including Johnson, have made the same promise to leave on time even if it means giving up on a deal with the EU that would smooth the transition.

 

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told a meeting of his lawmakers on Monday that Labour would never accept a 'no-deal' exit. "We will work on a cross-party basis to block a 'no-deal' outcome," he said.

 

The differences between the candidates reflect Conservative disunity on the issue, which has meant that, three years after the United Kingdom voted by 52% to 48% to quit the EU, it remains unclear how, when or even whether it will indeed leave.

 

The uncertainty has hit Britain's economy, which shrank by 0.4% in April, official figures showed on Monday - a bigger drop than any economist had forecast in a Reuters poll last week.

 

Johnson is not only the bookmakers' clear favourite but, according to polls, the most popular with the 160,000 party members who will ultimately make the choice.

 

He did not hold a high-profile campaign launch on Monday, but his rivals lined up to take potshots at him and his pledge to raise the point at which workers begin paying a 40% income tax to 80,000 pounds ($102,000) annual pay from 50,000 pounds.

 

"One thing I will never do as prime minister is to use our tax and benefits system to give the already wealthy another tax cut," said Gove, another frontrunner who was trying to get his own campaign back on track after admitting taking cocaine when he was a young journalist.

 

Critics accused him of hypocrisy, noting that, in a previous role as education minister, he had signed off on rules to ban teachers for life for taking cocaine.

 

'WE NEED A SERIOUS LEADER'

Others took aim at Johnson, a flamboyant former London mayor, alluding to past criticism that he favoured style over substance and failed to grasp details.

 

"We won't get a good deal with bluff and bluster," said Raab, one of the most hardline Brexit advocates.

 

Hunt, another of the favourites, said "a serious moment calls for a serious leader". "We need tough negotiations," he said, "not empty rhetoric".

 

Hunt's own campaign received a significant boost on Monday when two ministers with opposing views on Brexit - pensions minister Amber Rudd and defence minister Penny Mordaunt - endorsed him.

 

While the battle unfolds, May remains prime minister. Her replacement is due to be in place by the end of July.

 

(Additional reporting by Kate Holton and Kylie MacLellan; Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Jon Boyle, Kevin Liffey and Frances Kerry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-06-11

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DEMOCRATIC OBSCENITY – 0.25PERCENT OF THE UK, 81PERCENT OF WHOM DID NOT VOTE TORY, DECIDE OUR NEXT PM

[transam]

4 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

DEMOCRATIC OBSCENITY – 0.25PERCENT OF THE UK, 81PERCENT OF WHOM DID NOT VOTE TORY, DECIDE OUR NEXT PM

Please don't multiple shout....????

[sawadee1947]

3 minutes ago, transam said:

Please don't multiple shout....????

Have to untill everybody will notice that you choose someone as a Leader who is elected by only a few of Uk population. 

And this one should speak for UK ?

Very pathetic 

[transam]

2 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

Have to untill everybody will notice that you choose someone as a Leader who is elected by only a few of Uk population. 

And this one should speak for UK ?

Very pathetic 

Shouting is pathetic, does nothing...

[dick dasterdly]

1 hour ago, dick dasterdly said:

"Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told a meeting of his lawmakers on Monday that Labour would never accept a 'no-deal' exit. "We will work on a cross-party basis to block a 'no-deal' outcome," he said."

 

And we already know what this means - the appalling eu/may 'deal'.  The 'deal' that is SO bad,  it has been rejected by the largely remainer parliament 3 times already....

 

Why on earth would anyone in their right mind believe that making it clear they will accept any appalling deal - rather than making it clear that no deal is always on the table - is a good idea???

 

 

55 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

It doesn't mean it is a bad deal only because you Can't agree on it. 

If you don't like it in majority there is always the option to stay and remain untill you got a plan. At present all your candidates are making promises without having a plan. 

 

Do you honestly believe that the eu/may 'deal' is a good deal for the UK?? ????

 

I'd add that you're missing the point.  We've 'remained' for close to three years now - and it's obvious that the current uk leadership and the eu have no interest in coming up with a plan for the uk to genuinely leave....

 

Hopefully one of the latest candidates will do a far better job, and the eu will realise that they're now having to deal with someone who is prepared to deliver on no deal if necessary.

Edited June 11, 2019 by dick dasterdly

[sammieuk1]

Six weeks of back slapping and back stabbing from the rich how riveting ????

[sawadee1947]

18 minutes ago, transam said:

Shouting is pathetic, does nothing...

You are right.?.... if you see a helpless desorientated swimmer...... Let him drown and die..... Is this your message? Pathetic 

[sawadee1947]

3 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

 

Do you honestly believe that the eu/may 'deal' is a good deal for the UK?? ????

 

I'd add that you're missing the point.  We've 'remained' for close to three years now - and it's obvious that the current uk leadership and the eu have no interest in coming up with a plan for the uk to genuinely leave....

Well, that is not right. The EU got a plan and 500 mill. Agreed. And May got a plan. 

She and her experts negotiated as best as possible. 

Unfortunately you leave everything now to a new leader who is not elected by UK population. Similar to Thailand. 

[transam]

2 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

You are right.?.... if you see a helpless desorientated swimmer...... Let him drown and die..... Is this your message? Pathetic 

I have actually saved a couple of drowning folk many years back, I can assure you they did not shout.....Get a grip man.....????

[dick dasterdly]

34 minutes ago, transam said:

Please don't multiple shout....????

 

27 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

Have to untill everybody will notice that you choose someone as a Leader who is elected by only a few of Uk population. 

And this one should speak for UK ?

Very pathetic 

You're really that desperate for attention???

 

I thought it was a mistake as you were having problems with the TV system - but it turns out that in your desperation you INTENDED  to post the same thing 3 times ????!

[sawadee1947]

1 minute ago, dick dasterdly said:

 

You're really that desperate for attention???

 

I thought it was a mistake as you were having problems with the TV system - but it turns out that in your desperation you INTENDED  to post the same thing 3 times ????!

Well, I reached at least one.... You

[dick dasterdly]

4 minutes ago, sawadee1947 said:

Well, I reached at least one.... You

????

 

But that's unfair on my part - as I certainly will remember you being desperate enough to deliberately post the same thing three times!

Edited June 11, 2019 by dick dasterdly

[sawadee1947]

10 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

????

 

But that's unfair on my part - as I certainly will remember you being desperate enough to deliberately post the same thing three times!

Yeah, keep an eye on me ????????????

[Srikcir]

I don't see a new deal by majority of Parliament that would be agreed to by the EU by October 2019. 

Especially if the British government refuses to meet its financial budget obligations with the EU

A new Deal Brexit in 2020 is more practical. But by then there might be again another government.

[champers]

No Brexiteer will get to the final 2. They have split the Brexit vote and Brexiteers are a minority of Tory MPs anyway. We will probably end up with Hunt, the male version of May. He likely won't get a Brexit agreement through Parliament either.

What happened to Jacob Rees Mogg, the so-called people's choice?

[vogie]

1 minute ago, champers said:

No Brexiteer will get to the final 2. They have split the Brexit vote and Brexiteers are a minority of Tory MPs anyway. We will probably end up with Hunt, the male version of May. He likely won't get a Brexit agreement through Parliament either.

What happened to Jacob Rees Mogg, the so-called people's choice?

If a Brexiteer doesn't get the job we can safely say that the Tories will be history.

As for Jacob Rees Mogg the Rochdale Herald have just ran a story on him reporting that he took snuff at a debutantes ball. JR Mogg was quick to refute this saying it was a spoof story and he thought that if he took snuff, he would sneeze.

[champers]

8 minutes ago, vogie said:

If a Brexiteer doesn't get the job we can safely say that the Tories will be history.

As for Jacob Rees Mogg the Rochdale Herald have just ran a story on him reporting that he took snuff at a debutantes ball. JR Mogg was quick to refute this saying it was a spoof story and he thought that if he took snuff, he would sneeze.

I didn't think that debutantes had balls. Sounds like something from Nana.

Edited June 11, 2019 by champers

[dick dasterdly]

14 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

I don't see a new deal by majority of Parliament that would be agreed to by the EU by October 2019. 

Especially if the British government refuses to meet its financial budget obligations with the EU

A new Deal Brexit in 2020 is more practical. But by then there might be again another government.

Am I missing something here?

 

Any possible new deal would not be put to parliament unless it had been agreed by the eu?

 

With a bit of luck the eu will continue with their 'no change to the 'agreement' stance', and so the uk will leave at the end of October - unless the court case declares that the uk left on the 29th March!

 

I suspect that very few believe that the uk actually genuinely owes the eu 39bn - it's just a made-up figure in the same way as the original 100 odd bn!