The Conservative Party stuck to its expected timetable for a leadership contest after the Tories appeared to resist a push to remove the prime minister sooner. Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 backbench committee, said party volunteers had insisted on “adequate opportunities to flee” across the country in August. “We have come to a satisfactory agreement on this,” he told reporters – leaving Johnson for another eight weeks in Downing Street for his “service”. Candidates will require 20 nominations to enter the race – up from the 10 required during the 2019 leadership election – making it likely that several of the 11 candidates will fail to enter the race. Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, currently has just eight backers, with former health secretary Sajid Javid and attorney-general Suella Braverman (both 11) also lagging behind. Nominations will open and close on Tuesday, with the first vote among Conservative MPs taking place on Wednesday and a second on Thursday. Candidates will need 30 votes to get through to the second ballot – to ensure they are narrowed down to just two candidates by July 21, with the final choice made by members. Sir Graham suggested the new prime minister would be installed on September 5, revealing discussions with Buckingham Palace to ensure the date would not “cause unnecessary inconvenience”. The support and policies of each of the candidates varied greatly: • With around half of the 358 Conservative MPs registered, Rishi Sunak has the most supporters (38) ahead of Penny Mordaunt (24), Tom Tugendhat (20), Liz Truss (15) and Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi (both 14) . • Home Secretary Priti Patel continued to consider whether to join the leadership race – as Brexit Opportunities Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg reportedly did. • A former Tory chancellor, Norman Lamont, joined criticism of the race as being dominated by calls for huge tax cuts that were out of reach and had no timetable. He pointed to the risk of triggering even higher price rises, saying: “You can’t get out of inflation, you’re just likely to add to it if you try to do that.” • Mr Zahawi, the chancellor, has however raised the stakes further – pledging to cut income tax to 18p by 2024 and scrap green levies on energy bills for two years. • Mr Javid has announced he will cut fuel duty by 10am. a liter – in addition to reducing income tax to 19 p.m. and the reversal of the increases in corporate tax and National Insurance. He also warned his Tory colleagues of “forgetting” 1997 unless they changed course, but dodged questions about his non-hosting past as a tax dodger. • Both Mr Zahawi and Liz Truss Aide Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, admitted that spending cuts would be necessary to fund the tax cuts – raising the specter of a return to austerity. • Conservative Net Zero Support Group chairman Chris Skidmore warned there were “two weeks to save net zero” as the climate emergency failed to show up in the race. • Mr Johnson said he would not support a successor because he “wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s chances by offering my support”. • The prospect of Labor holding a vote of no confidence in Mr Johnson, in a bid to force him out of No 10 immediately, moved a step closer – as Tory MPs pulled out of a bid to oust him. • A grassroots poll for the ConservativeHome website put Penny Mordaunt on top (with 20 per cent of respondents), ahead of Kemi Badenoch (19 per cent), Mr Sunak (12 per cent) and Ms Braverman and Ms Truss (both from 10 percent). .
