After Liz Truss debacle, UK Tories move to pick another leader next week

Liz Truss’ resignation as British prime minister triggered another leadership race – the second in just four months

The successor to Truss, who quit after just 45 days in office on Thursday, could be chosen as soon as Monday

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A bookmaker writes the voting odds for the next leader of the Conservative Party. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 1:58pm, 21 Oct 2022Updated: 4:02pm, 21 Oct 2022

The Conservative Party is desperate to draw a line under Liz Truss’ disastrous premiership, with a rapid leadership contest aimed at trying to give the winner a shot at overturning an unprecedented deficit in the polls.

Under rules announced Thursday, a maximum of three Tory MPs will be able to run. The next leader could be decided as soon as Monday, because once the field has been whittled down to two, the candidate with the least support will likely face overwhelming pressure to withdraw rather than give grass roots party members – who opted for Truss last time – the final say.

It is a reflection of how much Conservative Party managers are desperate for pragmatism, rather than ideology, to drive events over the next few days.

Some Tory MPs are publicly ashamed of the chaos unleashed by Truss’s premiership, the shortest in British history, which triggered days of financial market turmoil and left people struggling with higher mortgage costs.

But in a faction-riven party tearing itself apart, there’s no guarantee that even the best-laid plans will produce a unifying candidate.

In what would be an extraordinary twist even by recent standards, supporters of former prime minister Boris Johnson have begun “Bring Back Boris” calls for him to replace his successor just months after he was ousted himself.