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A Conservative Party leadership election is expected to occur in 2024 to determine the successor to Rishi Sunak following his declared intention to resign after the party's landslide defeat at the 2024 general election.
Following the landslide victory of the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer in the 2024 general election, Rishi Sunak said in his final speech as Prime Minister that he would resign as leader of the party, but not immediately, staying on as leader as preparations are made to elect his successor. [1]
On 9 July, an election was held for the chair of the 1922 Committee, the backbench committee which governs the rules of any Conservative leadership election. As Graham Brady had stood down as an MP, a vacancy was created. [2] There were two candidates, Bob Blackman and Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.
98 out of 121 MPs turned out (81%). The voting took place until 5:30pm, but emails from various figures mistook it as ending at 6:00pm. As such, it was reported that some senior Conservative figures such as Mark Francois, Jeremy Hunt and Edward Leigh were unable to vote. However, Blackman won an absolute majority of Conservative MPs, so had the other 23 MPs voted it would not have affected the outcome. [2] [3] The results of the election were as follows:
Election of chair of the 1922 committee | ||
Bob Blackman | 61 / 121 (50%)
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Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 37 / 121 (31%)
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Following the vote for the chair, there were subsequent votes to elect the 1922 executive board. One MP with nominations was left off the ballot paper, leading to calls to re-run the vote. [4]
The selected members of the executive are as follows: [5]
In July, multiple reports suggested that Danny Kruger and John Hayes, prominent MPs on the right of the party, are planning to support the prospective leadership candidate Robert Jenrick. Both Kruger and Hayes previously campaigned for Suella Braverman in her bid to succeed Boris Johnson in 2022. [6] [7] [8] The i reported that following Braverman's controversial speeches regarding the pride flag, multiple Conservative MPs believed she had lost her support among her colleagues and could defect to Reform UK. [9]
The elected chair of the 1922 committee, Bob Blackman, suggested prior to the election that the party must take its time in choosing a leader. [10] Following the election, he said that he expected Sunak would not be the leader by the Conservative Party Conference, which is being held at the end of September. [11]
In June 2024, during the campaign for the 2024 general election, The Guardian reported that leadership hopefuls were already lobbying for support from MP candidates for any upcoming leadership election. [12] The Times also reported that both Penny Mordaunt and Kemi Badenoch registered website domains for a leadership campaign. As Mordaunt lost her seat in the general election her prospective campaign is moot barring either a change in the party's constitution or re-entering the House of Commons through a by-election; both are considered unlikely. [13] The Conservative Party constitution states that the leader of the party must be a Member of Parliament. [14]
Rules for the election will be set by the 1922 Committee; all previous leadership elections have involved a series of votes by Conservative MPs, and some have included a runoff between the top two candidates voted on by party members.
The following displays all the candidates who are sourced as likely to mount a leadership campaign.
Candidate | Constituency | Current office | Former offices | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() James Cleverly |
Braintree (2015–present) | Shadow Home Secretary (2024–present) |
Home Secretary (2023–2024) Foreign Secretary (2022–2023) Education Secretary (2022) Party Chair (2019–2020) |
[14] [15] [19] |
![]() Iain Duncan Smith |
Chingford and Woodford Green (1997–present), formerly Chingford (1992–1997) | N/A |
Work and Pensions Secretary (2010–2016) Leader of the Conservative Party (2001–2003) |
[20] |
![]() Mel Stride |
Central Devon (2010–present) | Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary (2024–present) |
Work and Pensions Secretary (2022–2024) Leader of the House of Commons (2019) |
[21] |
![]() Laura Trott |
Sevenoaks (2019–present) | Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury (2024–present) |
Chief Secretary to the Treasury (2023–2024) Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Pensions (2023) |
[22] |
The following figures were discussed as potential candidates in a leadership election, but lost their seats in the 2024 general election.
The following Conservative Party politicians were suggested by commentators as potential candidates for the leadership but declined to stand:
Dates conducted |
Pollster | Client | Sample size |
Kemi Badenoch |
Jeremy Hunt |
Suella Braverman |
Tom Tugendhat | Robert Jenrick | James Cleverly | Priti Patel | Victoria Atkins |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 2024 | YouGov [a] | QMUL and Sussex University | 725 | 31% | 12% | 16% | 15% | 7% | 10% | 6% | 2% |
Dates conducted |
Pollster | Client | Sample size |
Kemi Badenoch |
Suella Braverman |
Tom Tugendhat | Robert Jenrick | Priti Patel | James Cleverly | Don't know | Wouldn't vote |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
23–30 June | JL Partners | GB News | 502 | 31% | 35% | — | — | — | — | 14% | 20% |
30% | — | 30% | — | — | — | 20% | 20% | ||||
34% | — | — | 24% | — | — | 20% | 22% | ||||
— | 37% | 31% | — | — | — | 15% | 17% | ||||
— | 39% | — | — | — | 34% | 12% | 15% | ||||
— | — | 31% | 25% | — | — | 25% | 19% | ||||
— | — | — | 29% | 35% | — | 16% | 20% |
Dates conducted |
Pollster | Client | Sample size |
Penny Mordaunt |
Jeremy Hunt |
Suella Braverman |
Jacob Rees-Mogg |
Kemi Badenoch |
Grant Shapps |
Others | None | Don't know |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
13–20 June 2024 | Deltapoll | Helm Partners | 1,511 | 25% | 13% | 10% | 6% | 4% | 3% | — | 19% | 20% |
Dates conducted |
Pollster | Client | Sample size |
Suella Braverman |
Tom Tugendhat |
Kemi Badenoch |
Priti Patel |
Robert Jenrick |
Don't know |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
21–25 June 2024 | JL Partners | GB News | 8,030 | 10% | 9% | 7% | 7% | 6% | 61% |
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