Indian-Origin Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman Among Eight Shortlisted Candidates In UK PM Race

FormerChancellor Rishi Sunak and Attorney General Suella Braverman are the twoIndian-origin members of Parliament to make into shortlist candidates of eight inthe race to replace British Prime Minister.

Wikipedia

The others tomake it on the ballot paper include Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, new ChancellorNadhim Zahawi, Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt, former Cabinet ministers KemiBadenoch and Jeremy Hunt, and Tory backbencher Tom Tugendhat, PTI reported.

Sunak, who formally launched his campaign earlier, remains the frontrunner in the race with reportedly the highest number of MPs behind him. “I am running a positivecampaign focused on what my leadership can offer our party and our country,”the 42-year-old conservative leader said at his campaign launch.

Got good numberssays Braverman

Earlier, MsBraverman, 42, said she has “got the numbers” to make the leadership raceballot.

Wikipedia

Ms Braverman, whose parents emigrated to Britain in the 1960s from Kenya and Mauritius respectively, has been Member of Parliament for Fareham since 2015.

Need support of20 MPs

The candidates needed the backing of at least 20 MPs to make the first cut and all eight will now face the first round of voting on Wednesday and only those with the backingof at least 30 MPs – or just under 10 per cent of Tory MPs – will progress toround two.

BBC

Just as thenominations closed, the two Pakistani-origin hopefuls – former Health SecretarySajid Javid and Foreign Office Minister Rehman Chishti – had withdrawn from therace, not having met the 20-MP mark.

“There is anabundance of both ideas and talent in our party. One of the candidates will begiven the honour of becoming Prime Minister,” said Mr Javid.

Second balloton Thursday

A second balloton Thursday will narrow down the field further as candidates with the leastvotes keep getting knocked out.

There isprovision for further ballots next week if the race to get to the final twocandidates does not conclude by the end of this week.

The Economic Times

The deadline tonarrow down the shortlist to just two remaining candidates is July 21, when the1922 Committee Chair Sir Graham Brady will also seek an assurance that bothfinalists will remain in the race to face the wider party membership ballot.

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