FTI Consulting Public Affairs Snapshot – 2022 Conservative Party Leadership Contenders

Purpose of this Briefing

This briefing provides a detailed profile of the senior Conservative MPs who are expected to run for the Conservative Party leadership, and FTI Consulting’s take on their leadership chances.

Situation

Amid growing concerns about Boris Johnson’s leadership since the start of the so-called Partygate scandal, the Prime Minister has suffered a tidal wave of ministerial exits from the Government this week, with close to 60 MPs on the ‘payroll’ tendering their resignations. The Prime Minister has now offered his own resignation, and in so doing so has triggered the beginning of a new Conservative Party leadership election.  This will take place in two stages.  The first stage is a process of shortlisting, where candidates put themselves forward with the support of other Conservative MPs. These are then whittled down to a final two through a series of ballots of MPs, in which they must receive a certain proportion of votes, or not come last, to proceed in the contest.  The 1922 Committee sets the rules, thresholds, and timetable for this stage, which will be announced in due course. Ballots are then issued to all Conservative Party members who may then cast their vote for either of the two final candidates in a straight contest. This afternoon, senior Conservative MPs with leadership ambitions are working at pace to garner support among MPs, ahead of what is highly likely to be an extremely crowded field. So far, the Attorney General Suella Braverman and Steve Baker have been the only two Conservative MPs to announce their intention to run for the leadership.