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Senior Conservative party figures want to rapidly thin out the field of candidates to succeed Boris Johnson as bitterness between rival camps increases and a dossier attacking former chancellor Rishi Sunak was circulated.
A total of 10 candidates have formally declared their intention to stand to be the next UK prime minister, after foreign secretary Liz Truss launched her bid on Sunday night.
The process to elect the next leader will be agreed at a special meeting of the executive of the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs on Monday. It will also decide the threshold for candidates to make it on to the ballot paper.
One senior MP close to the committee said it was “likely” that MPs will demand candidates must secure the support of at least 10 per cent of the parliamentary party to get on to the ballot paper; that equates to 36 MPs. Another senior MP suggested the threshold may be 20 MPs.
Such a high bar is likely to immediately knock out lesser-known candidates who have fewer supporters. In the last Tory leadership contest held in 2019, candidates were required to attract the support of just eight MPs to be on the ballot.
One senior backbench MP warned: “There’s going to be a big backlash if the nomination is 10 per cent. People want to have a broad range of candidates.”
Nominations are expected to open on Tuesday, with the first round of voting taking place on Wednesday and a shortlist of two set to be finalised before parliament goes into summer recess on July 21. The new prime minister will take office before the House of Commons returns on September 5.
Individuals close to Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 committee, said he wanted a “rapid parliamentary stage to get this sorted quickly. Graham would like no more than two or three shortlisting rounds.”
According to the bookmakers Ladbrokes Coral, Sunak is the frontrunner to be the next leader. He has picked up the largest number of endorsements so far, with 30 Tory MPs pledging their support.
However, his opponents are mobilising. A dossier entitled “Get Ready for Rishi” is circulating among MPs, taking aim at him for his economic policies.
“There is nothing Conservative about the ‘big tax and big spend’ agenda of Rishi Sunak,” the document said. “It’s time for the party decisively to move on.”
Sunak’s campaign said it was “solely focused on explaining to the country and the party why he is the best candidate to take the country forward in what will be challenging times ahead”.
In a further sign of the acrimony that has gripped the Conservative party, chancellor Nadhim Zahawi released a lengthy statement on Sunday describing as “smears” reports that he had been under investigation by the National Crime Agency and is being probed by HM Revenue & Customs.
He is also standing for the leadership and some in his campaign believe the allegations originated from rival candidates.
On Sunday, two former health secretaries, Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt, announced bids to stand, pledging to slash taxes.
Javid, who was the first cabinet minister to resign from the government, prompting the events that led to the prime minister’s resignation as Tory leader on Thursday, has made tax cuts his central campaign issue.
Javid and Hunt also pledged to slash corporation tax. While Hunt said he would introduce an immediate cut from 19p to 15p, Javid said he would reduce it by 1p a year to reach the same level.
Penny Mordaunt, the trade minister, launched a leadership bid on Sunday with a focus on being a team player. “Our leadership needs to change. It needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship,” she said.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps announced that he was standing and sought to rally MPs who remain loyal to the outgoing prime minister. “It is easy to criticise Boris after keeping one’s head down for years while being happy to benefit from his patronage,” he said. “I am glad that I did not do that.”
On Sunday night Truss immediately sought to differentiate herself from Sunak on the economy by pledging tax cuts from “day one”. One Truss ally said: “She’s definitely not the continuity candidate on the economy.”
She also said she would cut corporation tax, reverse the rise in National Insurance and reform business rates.
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