Dan Kitwood/Staff/Stringer/Getty Images LONDON — The next prime minister of the United Kingdom will be announced on Monday after a grueling and sometimes bitter leadership showdown within the ruling Conservative Party. The announcement is expected at 12:30 p.m. London time and will be issued by Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, which is a group of Conservative Members of Parliament who are not government ministers. The leadership election was triggered when current Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced he would step down on July 7. It came after a wave of resignations by ministers and supporters, with many expressing a lack of confidence in their party leader. Johnson remained as caretaker prime minister while the party decided between candidates. He has yet to officially step down as he must first attend an audience with Queen Elizabeth II to formally inform her that he is stepping down.
Sunak or Truss?
The next prime minister will be either current foreign secretary Liz Truss or former finance minister Rishi Sunak, after the pair reached the final stage of the eight-candidate leadership contest. Truss has consistently been a front-runner in the contest among Conservative Party members. Truss and Sunak have gone head-to-head at 12 campaign events over the past eight weeks to try to win over party members. They have given their views on the Bank of England mandate, tax cuts and the controversial plan to deport migrants in Rwanda, as well as the UK’s worsening cost of living crisis. The result was chosen exclusively by members of the Conservative Party — that’s about 180,000 people at the latest count who pay to be members of the party, out of the 65 million people living in the UK Voting was conducted as a postal ballot which closed on 2 September.
Next steps
Once the most popular candidate is announced, the formal process for appointing a prime minister begins. It will include a trip to Balmoral Castle in Scotland for the official “handshake” meeting with the Queen, where the monarch calls for a new administration to be formed. This is a break with tradition, as her 15th prime minister will be the first not to be officially appointed at the Queen’s London home, Buckingham Palace. The 96-year-old reportedly began experiencing “episodic mobility issues,” Buckingham Palace announced on May 9, which may explain the new prime minister’s choice to travel to her rather than make the 500-mile journey to London.
A ‘gift budget’ from the new prime minister?
The cost of living crisis is likely to be top of the agenda for whoever moves into 10 Downing Street, with UK energy bills set to rise by 80% in October and investors warning that inflation could hit 22% next year year. The next prime minister will offer support for energy costs, Alan Custis, head of UK equities at Lazard Asset Management, predicted on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” last week. “As prime minister you want to create a honeymoon period,” Custis said, “and there could be a general election.” “Any candidate who gets in, there’s a potential for a gift budget once they get in,” he said.
