After an unpleasant weekend in which several MPs launched their plans to cut taxes, the current contenders to become prime minister are likely to be whittled down to a final two in about a week’s time. Sources said the powerful Tory Committee of 1922 may increase the number of backers a candidate needs to 25, clearing an increasingly crowded field and adding a frantic pace to a nascent campaign already beset by ill-tempered updates. This would allow them to move on to the ballot in which MPs vote on the field to come up with a final pair. A total of nine MPs have already thrown their hat in the ring to replace Johnson, with a tenth – Liz Truss – expected soon. The committee’s figures are also likely to push for most, if not all, rounds of MP voting to take place next week, with “serious contenders” facing off next week – no later than July 21, when the Commons goes into session. off for the summer. However, the detailed rules of the leadership contest have yet to be determined, with the election of a new executive taking place on Monday night. Johnson’s opponents are confident of victory, which means they could then start working on the rules. Given the large number of MPs, sources said the committee may more than triple the number of backers a potential Tory leader needs from the eight needed in 2019 to 20 to 30. That would allow a new prime minister to be installed by the end of August, allowing the winner to appoint new ministers with about a week to take the top spot before the Commons sits from September 5. “Allowing a new administration some sort of lead is good for the sound governance of the country,” said one lawmaker. The committee has no control over the second half of the election, in which party members choose the eventual winner from the final two candidates, overseen by the Conservative party council. However, senior committee members are likely to push the board to allow just four weeks for the final run-off. A total of nine candidates have now officially entered the race, the latest being Penny Mordaunt, the former defense secretary, whose launch on Sunday was slightly off the mark when her team had to edit a tweeted campaign video after complaints from celebrities who appeared in it without permission. Another likely front-runner, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, is set to take part in the contest within hours. In a sign of the complex and fluid tactical considerations in a highly open contest, one of the potential front-runners, former health and foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, announced that if he won he would make Esther McVeigh his deputy prime minister. Describing the Tatton MP and founder of the Blue Collar Conservatism group as John Prescott to his Tony Blair, Hunt said he hoped he could help him appeal to voters in the north of England. Allies of Priti Patel, the home secretary, say she was asked by colleagues to stand down amid concerns from Tory MPs on the party’s right that their current standard-bearers, Attorney-General Suella Braverman and former minister Kemi Badenoch, might to struggle for progress. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST On Sunday night, Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested the public would “think an election is necessary” after a change of leader. He told Channel 4’s The Andrew Neil Show: “I think constitutionally we’ve evolved in a way that people think an election is going to be necessary. Whether the prime minister will call is another matter.” A series of candidates gave media interviews on Sunday, many of them based on competing and often impressive plans to cut taxes, but with details of how it would generally be paid for beyond broad lines such as economic growth or efficiency of the goverment . Sajid Javid, the former health secretary, who resigned last week shortly before Johnson stepped down as Tory leader, told the BBC that his planned tax cuts, including exemptions from the rise in national insurance contributions, were earmarked for reform of social care, will cost around £39 billion a year. In the coming days, Javid said, he will produce “a scorecard that will show exactly how this is all done [will be] is financed in a sustainable way”. Hunt and Tom Tugendhat, the Tory MP who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee, said they aimed to pay for the tax cuts by growing the economy in the long term, while Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said it would improve efficiency, for example using less paper in Whitehall. Rishi Sunak, who last week resigned as chancellor, has branded the idea of unfunded tax cuts “comfort tales” – and is reportedly the subject of negative briefings circulating among some Tory MPs. The other declared candidate is Nadhim Zahawi, who replaced Sunak as chancellor, who on Sunday dismissed allegations circulating about his financial affairs as “slander”. He told Sky News that he had “always” paid his taxes and had “declared” them in the UK. The 1922 Commission is holding elections for its 18 officers and executive members Monday afternoon, but it already has a majority of the members who strongly criticized Johnson, all of whom are running again. Those parts of an anti-Johnson tidbit will remain in place even though the prime minister has promised to stand down. They feel excited, since many of those loyal to the outgoing Prime Minister have taken ministerial posts, and therefore will not get a vote in the 1922 Commission election, as this is only available to supporters.
