October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election

The **October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election** will determine Liz Truss' successor as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The three front-runners are Boris Johnson, Penny Mordaunt, and Rishi Sunak.

The result of the election was announced on 24th October. The 1922 Committee announced a nomination threshold of support of 100 MPs. Two candidates put their names forward in: Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council, and Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, with the deadline being at 2pm on 24th October. Boris Johnson, the Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister before Truss, initially attempted to fulfil nomination criteria but later chose not to stand.

After Penny Mordaunt dropped out of the election, Rishi Sunak became Leader of the Conservative Party on 24th October at 2pm.

## Background

### Johnson premiership

After Theresa May resigned as prime minister in 2019, Boris Johnson, who had served as mayor of London and as foreign secretary, won the leadership election and became prime minister. With insufficient parliamentary support for his Brexit plans, Johnson called the 2019 general election, in which he won a landslide victory.

Less than two months after the 2019 general election, cases of COVID-19 had spread to the UK. The UK announced measures to reduce spread, including multiple legally enforced lockdowns. Beginning in December 2021, the media reported that there had been social gatherings by the Conservative Party and UK government staff that contravened public health restrictions. Johnson was personally implicated, and he, his wife Carrie Johnson, and the chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak were all given fixed penalty notices by the police. Several Conservative MPs called for Johnson to resign, and one, Christian Wakeford, defected to the Labour Party.

In late June 2022, the Conservative MP Chris Pincher resigned as deputy chief government whip after allegations were made that he had groped two men. Johnson initially refused to suspend the whip from him, and his spokesperson defended his initial appointment, saying Johnson had not been aware of allegations against him. More allegations of groping were made against Pincher. On 4 July, Johnson admitted that he had known about allegations at the time he appointed him. Several ministers resigned on 5 July, including the chancellor of the Exchequer Sunak and the health secretary Javid. Several politicians who had been discussed as potential leadership candidates, including Liz Truss, expressed their continuing support for Johnson. Johnson announced his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister of the United Kingdom in July 2022, triggering the September 2022 leadership election.

### Truss premiership

Eleven candidates put themselves forward for the July leadership election, with eight receiving sufficient nominations from Conservative MPs: Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat, and Nadhim Zahawi. After five rounds of voting, MPs selected Sunak and Truss to be put forward as candidates for party members to vote on. Truss was elected by the members on 5 September, receiving 57.4% of the vote.

Truss appointed Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor of the Exchequer. In September 2022, he announced a mini-budget, which cut taxes and increased spending. It was followed by a sharp fall in the value of the pound and was widely criticised. Truss and Kwarteng defended the budget for more than a week before beginning to announce reversals of the most controversial measures: the abolition of the 45% income tax rate for the highest earners; and cancelling a planned freeze in corporation tax. Truss replaced Kwarteng with Jeremy Hunt on 14 October. On 19 October, Suella Braverman resigned as Home Secretary. There were allegations of bullying, physical intimidation and voting pressure over a Labour motion to ban fracking voted on that evening. On 20 October, Truss met with Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee, before announcing her resignation.

## Campaign

By the end of 20 October, Rishi Sunak, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer who came second in the previous leadership election, Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the House of Commons who came third in the previous leadership election, and Boris Johnson, who was the leader and Prime Minister before Truss, were seen as the most likely candidates.

Johnson planned to cut short a holiday and fly back to the UK early. While many MPs supported him, others said they would not serve under him were he elected. Mordaunt was reported to be taking soundings as to whether she should run on the evening of 20 October and morning of 21 October.

## Election details

In her resignation statement on 20 October, Truss stated that the election would be completed "within the next week". Brady set out an expedited process. Nominations close at 2 p.m. on 24 October 2022, with candidates being required to obtain nominations from at least 100 MPs before the nomination deadline. With 357 current Conservative MPs, this means there can be, at most, three candidates. If more than 2 candidates fulfil nomination threshold, members ballot will be held until 2 candidates are left. An indicative vote by MPs between the final two will then be held. Then subsequently there will be an online vote of Conservative Party members would be held between the two remaining candidates. If only one candidate got over the nomination threshold, they would become Prime Minister without a confirmatory vote.

The timetable is much shorter than with the previous leadership election, with a higher bar for nominations. These changes and the addition of an indicative MP vote if there are two final candidates are seen as having been chose to narrow the final field quickly and to possibly avoid a membership vote.

## Candidates

### Declared

Rishi Sunak
MP for Richmond (Yorks) (2015–present)

### Withdrawn

The following Conservative MPs declared their intention to stand for leadership but subsequently withdrew from the race:

Penny Mordaunt
MP for Portsmouth North (2010–present)

### Explored

The following Conservative Party politicians initially explored a possible candidacy for the leadership, but the candidate declined to stand:

Boris Johnson
MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (2015–present)

### Declined

The following Conservative Party politicians (suggested by commentators as potential candidates for the leadership) have so far declined to stand:

* James Cleverly, Foreign Secretary (since September 2022), MP for Braintree (2015–present) *(endorsed Boris Johnson, then Rishi Sunak)*
* Michael Gove, former Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (September 2021–July 2022), MP for Surrey Heath (2005–present) (*endorsed Rishi Sunak)*
* Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer (since October 2022), MP for South West Surrey (2005–present) (*endorsed Rishi Sunak)*
* Grant Shapps, Home Secretary (since October 2022), MP for Welwyn Hatfield (2005–present) (*endorsed Rishi Sunak)*
* Tom Tugendhat, Minister of State for Security (since September 2022), MP for Tonbridge and Malling (2015–present) (*endorsed Rishi Sunak)*
* Ben Wallace, Secretary of State for Defence (since July 2019), MP for Wyre and Preston North (2005–present) *(endorsed Boris Johnson)*
* Sajid Javid, former Chancellor of the Exchequer (July 2019–February 2020), MP for Bromsgrove (2010–present) (*endorsed Rishi Sunak)*
* Kemi Badenoch, Secretary of State for International Trade (since September 2022), MP for Saffron Walden (2017–present) (*endorsed Rishi Sunak)*
* Suella Braverman, former Home Secretary (September–October 2022), MP for Fareham (2015–present) (*endorsed Rishi Sunak)*
* Theresa May, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (July 2016–July 2019), MP for Maidenhead (1997–present)
* Brandon Lewis, Secretary of State for Justice (since September 2022), MP for Great Yarmouth (2010–present) (*endorsed Rishi Sunak)*

## Endorsements

Main article: Endorsements in the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election

 Rishi Sunak
 Boris Johnson
 Penny Mordaunt
 *No endorsement* | 71

Note: Some endorsements are repeated due to MPs changing support after withdrawal.

## Responses

While Sunak polled better than Truss, opinion polling continued to show the Conservatives losing to Labour shortly after Sunak became leader.

After Sunak's cabinet reshuffle, a Downing Street source said "it reflects a unified party and a cabinet with significant experience". Many Conservative members were critical of the election, due to the lack of a members' vote and the unopposed candidate, characterising it as anti-democratic. Certain Tory MPs were unconvinced by the election, and stated that factionalism within the party was unlikely to disappear. Particularly, many Boris Johnson supporters felt cheated as they had voiced their vocal opposition to Sunak, due to Sunak's supposed role in the collapse of the Johnson ministry.

The election has been characterised as undemocratic in an opinion piece by a Liverpool Echo journalist, by those on the left according to Time, by Tortoise Media who plan to mount a legal challenge, and by opposition parties (including the Scottish National Party) as they call for a general election. The Labour Party (and specifically Keir Starmer) has called for an early general election. Immediately following the election a poll conducted by Ipsos found that 62% of respondents wanted a general election.

## Hypothetical polling

### Liz Truss approval rating amongst members

conducted
wording