Who is competing to be the next UK Prime Minister? 10 Conservative politicians who have launched bids to replace Boris Johnson

Now that Boris Johnson has resigned as Prime Minister, a number of Tory party members have thrown their hat in the ring to replace him.

Boris Johnson is resigning as Conservative leader and Prime Minister after it was clear that ministers and MPs have lost confidence in his position.

The pressure on Boris to quit led to a boiling point on Wednesday, July 6, when a number of cabinet ministers, which could include some of his long-term allies, were meeting him to urge his resignation.

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This was the result of the Prime Minister’s handling of allegations made against former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher.

Sajid Javid the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that he will be running to replace Boris Johnson. (Pic credit: Neil Cross)Sajid Javid the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that he will be running to replace Boris Johnson. (Pic credit: Neil Cross)
Sajid Javid the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that he will be running to replace Boris Johnson. (Pic credit: Neil Cross)

Boris Johnson will continue as Prime Minister until his replacement has been chosen, which is expected to be by the time of the Conservative Party conference in October 2022.

Here are the Conservative politicians who are running to replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.

Jeremy Hunt

The former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs served this position from July 9, 2018, to July 24, 2019.

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He studied at Oxford University and was elected Conservative MP for South West Surrey in May 2005.

From 2005 to 2007, he served as Shadow Minister for Disabled People and from 2007 to 2010 he was Shadow Culture Secretary. Then in May 2010, Jeremy was appointed as Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport.

Jeremy served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from January 8, 2018 to July 9, 2018 and was first appointed Secretary of State for Health in September 2012.

Prior to his position as an MP, Jeremy owned his own educational publishing business, Hotcourses.

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He currently lives in Godalming and London with his wife, Lucia Guo, who he married in 2009 and they have one son and two daughters.

Sajid Javid

Sajid is one of five sons of Pakistani Punjabi parents and from a young age, he developed an interest in financial markets and became an avid reader of the Financial Times from the age of 14.

He studied BA in economics and politics at the University of Exeter.

Before he was elected as an MP, he worked in business and finance and at the age of 25, he became Vice President at Chase Manhattan Bank and later moved to Deutsche Bank in London to help build its business in emerging market countries.

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He has previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer; Home Secretary; Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government; Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills; and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. He was elected Conservative MP for Bromsgrove in 2010.

Sajid was previously Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from June 26, 2021 to July 5, 2022.

Nadhim Zahawi

Nadhim was born into a Kurdish family in Baghdad, Iraq and when he was 11 years old, during Saddam Hussein’s early years in power, he and his family fled to the UK.

He studied chemical engineering at the University College, London and was elected as Conservative MP for Stratford-on-Avon in May 2010.

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Nadhim was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education from January 9, 2018 to July 26, 2019.

He was also Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from July 26, 2019, to September 15, 2021 and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care from November 28, 2020 to September 15, 2021.

Nadhim was also previously Secretary of State for Education from September 15, 2021 to July 2022 and was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer on July 5, 2022.

Grant Shapps

Grant married Belinda Goldstone in 1997 and they have three children.

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He studied at Cassio College, Watford before graduating from Manchester Polytechnic with a business and finance diploma.

In 1990, Grant founded PrintHouse Corporation, a design, print, website creation and marketing business in London.

He was appointed Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party in 2005, before being chosen as Shadow Housing Minister in June 2007. Following the 2010 election, he served as Minister of State for Housing and Local Government in the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Grant was appointed to the Privy Council in June 2010 and in September 2012 he was appointed as co-chairman to the Conservative Party. He also held the position of Minister without Portfolio at the Cabinet Office at the same time.

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The Rt Hon Grant Shapps was appointed Secretary of State for Transport on July 24, 2019 and was Minister at Department for International Development from May 11, 2015 until November 28, 2015. He was elected the Conservative MP for Welwyn Hatfield in 2005.

Rishi Sunak

Rishi studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University and was a Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University where he studied for his MBA.

He spent his professional career in business and finance before entering politics, working internationally and co-founded an investment firm working with companies.

In May 2015, Rishi was elected Conservative MP for Richmond (Yorks) and served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from June 2017 until his ministerial appointment.

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From July 24, 2019 to February 13, 2020, he was Chief Secretary to the Treasury and was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government from January 9, 2018 to July 24, 2019.

He was previously appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer from February 13, 2020 to July 5, 2022.

Suella Braverman

Suella studied Law at Queens’ College, Cambridge and gained a Masters in Law from the University of Paris and qualified as a New York Attorney.

From May 2015, she was elected Conservative MP for Fareham, then from January to November 2018, she was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union and on February 13, 2020, she was appointed Attorney General.

Kemi Badenoch

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Kemi was born in Wimbledon, London, to a GP and a professor of physiology. Her childhood was spent living in the US and Lagos, Nigeria and she describes herself as a middle-class Yoruba school girl.

At the age of 16, Kemi returned to the UK to live with a friend of her mother’s and studied Computer Systems Engineering at the University of Sussex, where she graduated in 2003. She later studied law part-time at Birkbeck, University of London and completed an LLB in 2009.

From July 27, 2019 to February 13, 2020 she was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education. Then from February 13, 2020 to September 15, 2021, she was Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.

She was Minister of State (Minister for Equalities) in the Government Equalities Office between February 14, 2020 and July 2022.

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She was also Minister of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities between September 16, 2021 and July 2022.

Tom Tugendhat

Tom studied theology at the University of Bristol, before doing a master’s degree course in Islamic studies at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and learning Arabic and Yemen.

He has served as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee since 2017 and has been the Member of Parliament for Tonbridge and Malling since 2015.

Before entering into politics, Tom worked as a journalist and as a public relations consultant in the Middle East.

Penny Mordaunt

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Penny was born in Torquay, Devon and has two brothers: her twin, James, and a younger brother, Edward.

She is the relative of Phillip Snowden, the first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer. Dame Angela Lansbury is her grandmother’s cousin.

She lost her mother to breast cancer when she was just 15 years old and left school to become her youngest brother’s primary caregiver. She became a magician’s assistant to help pay her way through sixth form college.

Her passion for politics came from her experience working in hospitals and orphanages of Romania in her gap year while the country was recovering from the aftermath of the 1989 revolution.

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She studied philosophy at the University of Reading and graduated in 1995 and was the first member of her family to go to university.

Penny has been an MP since 2010 and her other previous positions include: Minister of Local Government (2014), Minister for the Armed Forces (2015), Minister for Disabled People (2016), Secretary of State for International Development (2017), Secretary of State for Defence (2019) and Paymaster General (2020).

She was appointed Minister of State at the Department for International Trade on September 16, 2021 and is currently the department’s ministerial disability champion.

Liz Truss

Liz’s first name is actually Mary and has been known by her middle name ‘Elizabeth’. She was born in Oxford; her father was a professor of pure mathematics at the University of Leeds and her mother was a nurse, teacher and member of the Campaign for the Nuclear Disarmament.

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She studied philosophy, politics and economics at Merton College, Oxford and first entered Parliament in 2010.

Liz was elected as the Conservative MP for south west Norfolk in 2010, she was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare in September 2012.

Liz served as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from July 2014 until July 2016.

She was Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice from July 2016 until June 2017 and was chief secretary to the Treasury from June 2017 until July 2019.

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She was appointed Minister for Women and Equalities on September 10, 2019 and appointed Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on September 15, 2021.

Before she entered into politics, she was previously Deputy Director at Reform and worked in the energy and telecommunications industry for 10 years as a commercial manager and economics director, as well as a qualified management accountant.

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