May’s successor

With an increasingly shrinking Conservative Party, Boris too will have to face the same parliamentary complexities

Theresa May concluded her resignation speech in tears after making a succession of appalling strategic errors in trying to deliver Britain’s divorce with the European Union. May’s resignation is not just a verdict on her tumultuous term as Britain’s prime minister, her party which is in a state of nervous exhaustion, but also her successor who could end up in the very same way. Her party urgently needs to install a replacement so that political momentum towards a Brexit solution can be maintained. So far a dozen Conservative MPs have already declared their candidacy and the party will start trimming the list on June 7 when May steps down as the Tory leader.

Surprisingly, all candidates eyeing their chances of taking over from May are making the undeliverable promise of securing a new deal with the EU. With an overwhelming number of radical pro-Brexit members populating the Tory party, the next leader will have to be a hard Brexiteer or end up as doomed as May and her predecessor. For now the clear favourite in the unpredictable contest to succeed Theresa May is Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary. Johnson ticks the box for being charismatic, he makes the strongest argument against Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party and he is also a committed Brexiteer. And that is going to be the crucial qualifying factor in this crowded contest for the Tory crown. In addition to Johnson, the long list of contestants include Dominic Raab, the former Brexit secretary; Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt; Environment Secretary Michael Gove; and Home Secretary Sajid Javid — all supporters of Brexit, none as staunch as Johnson.

While the former foreign secretary remains the front runner in the race for Tory Party’s leadership, the absence of any breakthrough in Brussels might truncate his time in Downing Street. And with an increasingly shrinking Conservative Party, he too will have to face the same impossible parliamentary complexities that brought Theresa May down.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2019.

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