Who sound like candidates to replace Liz Truss at the head of the British government?

The resignation of British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Thursday means the Conservative Party will conduct an internal vote between now and the end of next week.

Here are the possible candidates for succession:

Rishi Sunak

The former finance minister was defeated by Truss in the final phase of the process of electing a new Conservative leader in early September, which was decided by the party’s bases, but was the preferred candidate of the deputies.

The 42-year-old former banker billionaire is a reassuring figure who defends fiscal orthodoxy.

During his campaign in August, he repeatedly warned that unfunded tax cuts would worsen the situation of the inflationwhich is at its highest level in decades, and would undermine market confidence.

The facts have proven him right. However, he has an important argument against him: many deputies loyal to Boris Johnson They see him as the traitor whose resignation in July precipitated the downfall of the charismatic and controversial prime minister.

Jeremy Hunt

The new finance minister emerged as the one holding the reins of power in the face of Truss’s weakening, after being forced to give up her economic plan and appoint him as head of the Treasury portfolio.

It was he who announced last Monday the spectacular removal of almost all of Truss’s fiscal measures, which had caused a panic in the markets.

This uncharismatic but very experienced former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Health, 55, recently assured the BBC that after two failed attempts to become party leader and head of government, in 2019 and last July, he does not want to participate in new to the race.

Penny Mordaunt

The minister in charge of relations with Parliament, who also competed in July with Truss to succeed Boris Johnson, was the favorite of the conservative bases in said election, but was discarded at the last moment by the deputies.

This charismatic former Defense Minister, 49, was on display on Monday when she appeared in Parliament to replace Truss to respond to the opposition, defending with aplomb the shift in the government’s economic policy.

The hypothesis of a Mordaunt-Sunak candidacy recently emerged and the conservative newspaper The Times mentioned unconfirmed talks in this regard on Tuesday.

Boris Johnson

It’s a scenario that has been circulating in the conservative press for months: Like a phoenix, the controversial Johnson would make his return, imposing himself as an obvious choice.

His landslide 2019 election victory gave the Conservatives a majority they had not seen since Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

But the hero of Brexit He has big obstacles to overcome: his forced resignation in July following a multiplication of scandals, including the Downing Street party against anticovid rules, is still fresh and attributes some responsibility to him in the current Conservative debacle.

In addition, it remains to be seen if Johnson, now embarking at 58 on a lucrative career as a speaker around the world, would be willing to assume the leadership of the formation again two years before a legislative in which the polls promise a landslide victory. of the Labor opposition.

Ben Wallace

Among the last favorites, the Minister of Defense, who had decided not to jump into the race to dedicate himself to the security of the country, but in recent days his name has resonated as a possible figure of unity for the party.

However, Ben Wallace, 52, seemed to rule out this scenario, assuring The Times on Tuesday that he wanted to remain at the helm of the defense portfolio.