LONDON — The UK Conservative Party is planning to narrow down a wide field of contenders to be Britain’s next prime minister by requiring candidates to have the initial support of 20 Tory MPs.
The threshold, and the wider rules of the contest, still need to be signed off by the Conservative Party’s board, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The 1922 Committee of rank-and-file Tory MPs, which oversees the initial rounds of voting, had a meeting to discuss the rules late Monday.
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is currently leading the field in terms of publicly declared support from MPs, with 38 backers, according to a spreadsheet run by the Guido Fawkes news website. Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt and Tom Tugendhat, chair of Parliament’s foreign affairs select committee, come next.
