More join contest to succeed Johnson

LONDON－The contest to replace Boris Johnson as British prime minister gathered pace over the weekend as five more candidates declared their intention to stand, with many pledging lower taxes and a clean start from Johnson's scandal-ridden premiership.

Junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt officially declared she was standing on Sunday, joining transport secretary Grant Shapps, finance minister Nadhim Zahawi and former ministers Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid who announced their candidacies for the leadership the day before. Mordaunt's announcement takes the total to nine.

The Mail on Sunday said foreign minister Liz Truss would launch her campaign on Monday with a promise to cut taxes and tackle the cost-of-living crisis, while one of her main rivals for the role, defense minister Ben Wallace, ruled himself out.

Shapps, Zahawi, Hunt and Javid also pledged to cut taxes, setting them against the current favorite, former finance minister Rishi Sunak, whose budget last year put the UK on course for its biggest tax burden since the 1950s.

Taxation is set to be a key feature of the contest, alongside candidates' Brexit credentials, as the UK faces the toxic combination of high inflation and rampant cost-of-living increases alongside stagnant growth and relatively high tax rates.

"I believe in a lower tax, lower regulation, cut-the-red-tape economy," Shapps told Sky News.

Hunt, a former foreign minister who came second in the leadership contest in 2019 when Johnson came to office, and Javid, who twice resigned from Johnson's government, both said they would cut corporation tax to 15 percent.

Alongside Sunak, Attorney General and arch-Brexiteer Suella Braverman, the relatively unknown former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch and backbench Tory MP Tom Tugendhat have announced their candidacies.

The Conservative Party's 1922 Committee of legislators, which groups all backbench members of parliament, will set out the rules and timetable for the contest in the coming days, and is looking to speed up the process of whittling down the contenders to a final two.

Conservative Party members would then have the opportunity to vote on the two who reach the runoff, with a result expected by the Conservative Party conference in October, and perhaps earlier.

Johnson resigned on Thursday following a dramatic cabinet revolt over his scandal-hit leadership, but he will stay on as caretaker prime minister until a new leader is elected.

European Union officials are not expecting his exit will change much in the UK-EU relationship.

"Even with a new prime minister, I believe there will likely be few changes in the British government's position" on the main Brexit issues causing current divisions, said David McAllister, the leading EU legislator dealing with the United Kingdom.

Agencies - Xinhua