The contenders vying to succeed Johnson as next UK leader

Jul 12, 2022, 7:35 AM | Updated: 8:46 pm

Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat arrives at BBC Broadcasting House to appear on the BBC One current af...

Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat arrives at BBC Broadcasting House to appear on the BBC One current affairs programme, Sunday Morning, in London, Sunday July 10, 2022. A crowded field of contenders are vying to replace Boris Johnson as the next Conservative leader and British prime minister. Tugendhat, a 48-year-old lawmaker and former soldier, has never served in government but heads the influential foreign affairs committee in Parliament. He is seen as a centrist and has billed his candidacy as a clean start. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

(Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

LONDON (AP) — Eight politicians are vying to replace Boris Johnson as the next Conservative Party leader and British prime minister.

These are the contenders who have secured support from at least 20 Conservative lawmakers to progress to Wednesday’s run-off votes:

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RISHI SUNAK, FORMER TREASURY CHIEF

Sunak, 42, is the best-known of the party’s potential leaders and a favorite of bookmakers to succeed Johnson.

His public profile rose after he became the U.K.’s Treasury chief in 2020, a job that entailed overseeing the billions of pounds handed out during the coronavirus pandemic to help businesses and workers.

But he has faced criticism for not doing enough to ease the country’s growing cost-of-living crisis. His popularity also took a dive after he police fined him for attending one of the government’s lockdown-flouting parties at Downing Street, home to the prime minister’s office and official residence.

Sunak says the promises to cut taxes made by many rival candidates are “not credible” and that he would only reduce taxes after inflation is under control.

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LIZ TRUSS, FOREIGN SECRETARY

Truss, 46, took on the high-profile Cabinet post in September after serving as trade minister. She is also the U.K.’s lead negotiator with the European Union on issues following Brexit.

Truss, the U.K.’s top diplomat, has made no secret of her leadership ambitions and has sought to emulate former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in carefully curated social media photos. If selected, she says she wants to cut taxes “from day one” and reverse an income tax hike.

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PENNY MORDAUNT, TRADE MINISTER

Mordaunt, 49, is popular with many Conservatives and is another bookmakers’ favorite to win.

She was the first woman to serve as U.K. defense secretary, although Johnson dismissed her shortly after he became prime minister in 2019 because she had backed another candidate for party leader, Jeremy Hunt.

Mordaunt, a former reality TV contestant, played a prominent role in the pro-Brexit campaign in 2016.

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JEREMY HUNT, FORMER CABINET MINISTER

Hunt, who has served as both health and foreign secretary, ran against Johnson in the 2019 leadership race. He lost heavily, and was dumped from the Cabinet.

Hunt, 55, has remained a member of Parliament and kept himself in the public eye by grilling the government’s pandemic policies as head of the Health and Social Care Select Committee.

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TOM TUGENDHAT, COMMONS FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE CHAIR

Tugendhat, a 48-year-old lawmaker and former soldier, has never held a Cabinet post but heads the influential Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament. He is seen as a centrist and has billed his candidacy as an opportunity for a clean start.

He said he is consulting a “broad coalition” of colleagues to bridge the divides in government.

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KEMI BADENOCH, FORMER EQUALITIES MINISTER

Badenoch, who has worked as a software engineer and at a private bank, grew up in Nigeria and says she experienced poverty first hand.

The 42-year-old lawmaker was initially considered an outsider for the race, but an endorsement from party heavyweight Michael Gove has boosted her profile.

She wants to lower taxes and lead a “limited government focused on essentials.”

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NADHIM ZAHAWI, TREASURY CHIEF

Zahawi, 55, came to prominence as vaccine minister during the pandemic. A co-founder of the market research firm YouGov, Zahawi was elected to Parliament in 2010.

He was born in Iraq to a Kurdish family and came to the U.K. as a child when his parents fled Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

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SUELLA BRAVERMAN, ATTORNEY GENERAL

Braverman is a lawmaker and lawyer who became England’s attorney general in 2020.

A euroskeptic and supporter of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, Braverman, 42, says she wants to deliver “all of the great opportunities of Brexit” — including a tougher line on immigration and leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights.

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Follow all of AP’s coverage of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/boris-johnson

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              This photo combo provided by UK Parliament show Kemi Badenoch, left, formally the minister of state at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities and the former Foreign Office Minister Rehman Chishti. Candidates to replace Boris Johnson as Britain’s prime minister are scattering tax-cutting promises to woo their Conservative Party electorate. Badenoch, a former banker, says she wants to lower taxes and lead a “limited government focused on essentials” Little-known junior minister Rehman Chishti became the 11th candidate to declare he wanted to succeed Johnson. (UK Parliament via AP)
            
              Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat arrives at BBC Broadcasting House to appear on the BBC One current affairs programme, Sunday Morning, in London, Sunday July 10, 2022. A crowded field of contenders are vying to replace Boris Johnson as the next Conservative leader and British prime minister. Tugendhat, a 48-year-old lawmaker and former soldier, has never served in government but heads the influential foreign affairs committee in Parliament. He is seen as a centrist and has billed his candidacy as a clean start. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
            
              Hon Suella Braverman, attorney General, arrives for a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London, Thursday, July 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
            
              FILE - Conservative party leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt takes questions during a Conservative leadership hustings at ExCel Centre in London, July 17, 2019. The contest to succeed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has no single frontrunner but there are many prominent contenders. Hunt, a former health secretary and foreign secretary, ran against Johnson in the 2019 leadership race, billing himself as the more serious candidate. He lost heavily, and was dumped from the Cabinet. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
            
              FILE - Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak attends a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street, London, May 24, 2022. The contest to succeed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has no single frontrunner but there are many prominent contenders. Sunak, the best-known of the Conservatives' potential leadership contenders, quit the government Tuesday, July 5. In a damning resignation letter, he wrote, “The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously." (Daniel Leal/Pool via AP, File)
            
              FILE - Britain's Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt speaks ahead of Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt launching his leadership campaign for the Conservative Party in London, June 10, 2019. The contest to succeed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has no single frontrunner but there are many prominent contenders. Mordaunt, 49, has emerged as a surprise potential contender, with supporters saying she could help heal party divisions.(AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
            
              FILE - Britain's Secretary of State for Education Nadhim Zahawi leaves after attending a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London, June 7, 2022. The contest to succeed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has no single frontrunner but there are many prominent contenders. Johnson appointed Zahawi, 55, to head the Treasury after Sunak’s resignation Tuesday, July 5. Barely two days later, Zawahi joined the public calls for Johnson to quit. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
            
              FILE - Elizabeth Truss Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs speaks to an aide as she leaves Downing Street in London, May 18, 2022. The contest to succeed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has no single frontrunner but there are many prominent contenders. Truss, 46, took on the high-profile Cabinet post in September after serving as trade minister. She has been gaining momentum as a contender since then and has made no secret of her ambitions. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
            
              FILE - Britain's Health Secretary Sajid Javid arrives for a Cabinet meeting at a pottery in Stoke-on-Trent, England, Thursday, May 12, 2022. The contest to succeed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has no single frontrunner but there are many prominent contenders. Javid, 52, also resigned Tuesday, July 5 declaring “enough is enough” and that “the problem starts at the top.”(Oli Scarff/Pool Photo via AP, File)
            
              FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021 file photo, from left, Britain's Health Secretary Sajid Javid, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak attend a media briefing in Downing Street, London. Johnson was dealt a major blow Tuesday, July 5, 2022 when two of his most senior Cabinet ministers quit, saying they had lost confidence in Johnson’s leadership. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP, File)

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The contenders vying to succeed Johnson as next UK leader