UK Conservative Party Head Election "Four to Three", Sunac Continues to Lead

(The Global Times' special correspondent in the United Kingdom, Ji Shuangcheng, and Zhen Xiang, special correspondent for Global Times)

The British ruling party, the Conservative Party, held the fourth round of voting for the head of the party election on the 19th. One person was eliminated, and the other three candidates entered the follow-up contest. Among them, the former finance minister, Sunaq, obtained 118 MPs' support and was voted ahead of other candidates. But some analysts believe that Sunaq may not win in the final round of voting, and there is still great uncertainty about who will die.

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) 19 reports, in the fourth round of voting held on the same day, the Conservative Party head of the election, Sunac, received 118 votes, former Defense Minister Penny Mordaunt received 92 votes, and Foreign Minister Elizabeth Truss received 86 votes. Kemi Badenoch, former Minister of State for Equality, received 59 votes and was "out" for receiving the least number of votes. Compared to the previous round of voting, Sunak got 3 more votes, Truss got 15 more votes, Mordaunt got 10 more votes, and Badenoch got 1 more vote. Notably, none of the three who advanced were white men, meaning that Britain's new prime minister is destined to emerge from among women and candidates of Indian origin.

On July 13, 14, and 18, Conservative Party MPs conducted three rounds of voting. The first round of voting eliminated two candidates with less than 30 votes of support—Iraqi-born Chancellor of the Exchequer Zahawi and former Foreign Secretary Hunt. Hunt walked away with a showdown in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership race but ultimately defeated Johnson. The second round of voting eliminated Attorney General Braverman, who came in at the bottom of the support vote. The third round of voting eliminated Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the lower house of parliament. According to the Conservative Party's previously released election rules, the fifth round of voting is scheduled to take place on the 20th and will again eliminate the lowest vote-getters to finalize the two contenders before the summer recess of Parliament. After that, a second stage will be held in which all Conservative Party members will vote for the winner to become the new head of the party and the new prime minister of the United Kingdom. The final results of the Conservative Party leadership election will be announced on September 5.

In the previous three rounds of voting, Sunac was in the lead, followed by Mordaunt and Truss in third place. The media generally believes that the big question is who can enter the "final round" between Mordaunt and Truss. The British "Daily Express" said on the 19th that although the number of votes Mordaunt received was still second, several officials who have worked with her recently criticized her "lack of ability," "false appearance," "lack of responsibility" and so on, for fear of damaging the election. In a media interview, the current boss of Mordant, International Trade Minister Anne-Marie Traveling 18, accused Mordant of "negligence". Other officials were forced to "put out the fire". The British newspaper "The Independent" said, "Truss through careful packaging to make their persona closer to the "Iron Lady", Margaret Thatcher, to capture the middle of the Conservative Party, to position themselves as "traditional conservative believers" to please her supporters." In the European version of the U.S. political news network's 19 analysis, Badenoch is seen as the main rival of Truss in the fight for the party's right-wing "Brexit" votes, so the Truss team hopes Badenoch's "out" can help Truss defeat Mordaunt, and finally Sunac.

The Guardian believes that Sunac's electoral position cannot be said to be completely secure. As the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sunac does not agree with the current wave of tax cuts in British politics, but emphasizes the principle of fiscal prudence, and criticizes the candidates who advocate tax cuts for simply concocting "comfortable fairy tales" rather than facing the harsh economic reality. Analysis suggests that Sunaq's position may pose an obstacle to his eventual election as head of the Conservative Party. YouGov, a British polling agency, released a poll of British Conservative Party members on the 19th, showing that Sunac may lose to another candidate in the final round of voting.