 Tweet And just like that — she's gone. Beleaguered Prime Minister Liz Truss has announced that she will stand down and be replaced by a new leader of the Conservative Party by the end of next week. Eight weeks after the end of the eight week leadership contest held over the summer, parliament could see its third Prime Minister of the year. It would be a certainty if not for the specter of Boris Johnson, away on holiday but looming over proceedings from afar like Napoleon on Elba. Calls for Johnson to be restored, to "Bring Back Boris," have already emerged from Boris-loyalists and Conservative MPs more generally who, in spite of the cascade of resignations on principle that forced him to step down in July, are looking for a tested remedy to the bleak electoral landscape that the party would face if a general election were imminent. As of this evening, there is already a Bring Back Boris Twitter handle, @OnlyBorisCan with 202 followers (and counting). Truss' brief premiership has been a stunning combination of genuine tragedy and political comedy. Two days after she assumed office, Queen Elizabeth II died. After a period of mourning, Truss and Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng delivered the mini-budget that caused distress in the UK government bond market which, in turn, instigated an intervention from the Bank of England to buy gilts to prop up prices in response to a market sell-off. The House then rose for the conference recess. All the while, Truss had engaged in a continuous ministerial reshuffle, seemingly unable to fill posts with willing and able MPs; the abundance of ideologues and party-political loyalists made her ministry even less inspiring than the brain-drained ministry of her predecessor.  By the time the House sat again on October 11, Truss and Kwarteng had backtracked on key elements of the mini-budget, most notably the plan to scrap the 45% top income tax rate. At the end of the week, Kwarteng was sacked and replaced by 2019 leadership contest finalist and 2022 contest early round candidate Jeremy Hunt. On Monday, Hunt delivered an updated statement in advance of the medium-term fiscal plan which his predecessor had moved from November to October 31. On Wednesday, Home Secretary Suella Braverman, herself a 2022 leadership contest early round candidate in July, was sacked for a breach of the ministerial code related to government documents (accidently) handled through personal email, though there was no perceived security threat and Braverman and Truss openly disagreed on immigration policy with respect to the forthcoming fiscal plan. Later in the day, government whips advised Tory MPs to treat an opposition motion opposing fracking as a vote of confidence in the government. As some members were opposed to fracking on principle, in line with the party manifesto, and others had already lost confidence in Truss' ability to lead the government, the votes proved difficult to wrangle, or at least difficult enough to conscript ministers to marshal members to the No lobby in an atmosphere that was apparently so contentious that Chief Whip Wendy Morton and Deputy Chief Whip Craig Whittaker reportedly resigned (their resignations were either withdrawn or not accepted shortly thereafter, and the government did win the vote 230 - 326). On Thursday October 20, Truss met with 1922 Committee Chair Sir Graham Brady, and at about 1:30pm announced to the press that she had informed King Charles III of her intention to step down. When she greeted the king at an audience last week, he jokingly replied "Back again? Dear, oh dear. Anyway..." The irony of the good-natured ribbing did not escape critics since events by that time had already revealed lingering divisions within the party, but few, if any (namely Simon Hoare who gave her 12 hours from the night before), would have predicted the end would come so soon.   And so, with the toppling of another Prime Minister, we launch a new Leadership Contest Tracker. Candidates will need the support of at least 100 members to be included on the first ballot. Assuming at least one round of voting occurs, results of each round will be posted below. Since there are 357 sitting Conservative MPs, the 100 nomination threshold limits the first ballot to a maximum of three candidates; if three candidates reach the minimum, a fourth candidate could garner the support of at most 57 colleagues. UPDATE: Oct 23, Boris Johnson has conceded (formally, he declined to enter the contest). UPDATE: Oct 24, Penny Mordaunt has conceded, having failed to reach the 100 MP nomination threshold. Rishi Sunak has been declared the winner and the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Election Timetable Mon Oct 24: 2pm, Nominations close 3:30pm to 5:30pm, Round 1 voting 6pm, Round 1 results announced 6:30pm to 8:30pm, Round 2 voting, if necessary 9pm, Round 2 results announced Tues Oct 25 to Thurs Oct 27: Hustings between final two candidates Friday Oct 28 11am, Online voting among Party members closes Winner announced
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| Tags | Suella Braverman | Jeremy Hunt | Boris Johnson | Kwasi Kwarteng | Penny Mordaunt | Rishi Sunak | Elizabeth Truss |