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A day after an opinion poll showed him trailing Liz Truss by 34 points, the former British finance minister Rishi Sunak said it was still “early days” in the race to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The current leader of the Conservative Party will be chosen after Johnson was compelled to retire when his cabinet members left in droves, citing a string of scandals and gaffes over the previous year. The two surviving possibilities are Foreign Secretary Truss and Sunak, whose departure contributed to Johnson’s demise. Over the coming weeks, party members will cast postal ballots, with the results being published on September 5.
Before engaging in campaigning later on Wednesday among members of the ruling Conservative Party, Sunak said in a tweet, “It’s still early days and I’m looking forward to seeing many more of you in the coming weeks.”
The winner of the party leadership election will take over as prime minister after inheriting a legislative majority.
According to a poll conducted by YouGov on Tuesday, 86 percent of Conservative Party members had already made up their minds about their vote, and Foreign Secretary Truss led Sunak by 34 points.
On Tuesday, Truss made the first significant error of her campaign when, a day after making one of her most striking promises, she was forced to retract it in response to criticism from other Conservatives and opposition parties.
Truss had pledged to reduce government spending by billions of pounds annually, a goal that opponents claimed would necessitate slashing the salaries of public sector employees, such as nurses and teachers, outside of the prosperous southeast of England.
Sunak has had difficulty winning the election, in part because of his involvement in Johnson’s departure and his track record in politics.
Sunak implemented tax rises while serving as finance minister to fund for government assistance provided during the COVID-19 epidemic and to aid Britons in covering skyrocketing energy costs. Many activists in the historically low-tax party have criticised that.
To prevent fueling inflation, Sunak promised to gradually reduce taxes; however, Truss has stated that she will take rapid action to lighten the tax burden.
