The Political Battle to be the UK’s next Prime Minister

20th June Ballots 4 and 5

As you can see from Ballot 5 that Jeremy Hunt came back to pip Michael Gove by just two votes. So it is, that it is Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt will face off to the Conservative Party membership whose decision will be announced on 22nd July 2019

Round 5

Round 4

Evening of 19th June 2019 – Round 3

And then there were four

Morning of 19th June 2019 – Round 2

Matt Hancock dropped out a few days before the second ballot by Conservative MPs. His loose votes, combined with the votes of the three candidates who lost after the first round, meant there were 50 votes up for grabs.

Boris Johnson gained 12 of those. Jeremy Hunt gained 3; Michael Gove 4, and Dominic Rhab 3. Rory Stewart did best with a gain of 18 to move him up to 4th in the race. Meanwhile, Sajid Javid picked up 10 which meant he just reached the 33 vote threshold.

Unfortunately, Dominic Raab was eliminated.

Situation as at 13^th June 2019

All 313 Conservative MPs voted including Theresa May, who declined to say whom she had backed. This is how the votes went.

Tory leadership first round result:

• Boris Johnson      114

• Jeremy Hunt            43

• Michael Gove           37

• Dominic Raab          27

• Sajid Javid                23

• Matt Hancock           20

• Rory Stewart            19

Eliminated:

• Mark Harper • Andrea Leadsom • Esther McVey

Full 1st Ballot result

What Next

The second round of voting could see allegiances switching and support from eliminated and quitting candidates being accrued by survivors. Voting continues until only two candidates are left. The two finalists will then present their cases to the Conservative Party membership from across the country and it is the membership who will vote to see which one they prefer. The result of their ballot is expected to be announced on 22^nd July 2019 and they will then become the UK’s next Prime Minister.

Theresa May has said that she will continue to serve as a Member of Parliament, but will do so from the backbenches.

Britain’s Parliamentary system in brief

From the last General Election in the UK in 2017, the Conservative Party won the most number of seats in the UK Parliament. They did not win an overall majority only the most seats. 

In spite of the hullabaloo about the 2019 EU elections, The Brexit Party have no seats in the UK Parliament because they did not exist in 2017. They came close to winning one seat in the Peterborough by-election where they finished a respectable second in the polling. You cannot be the Government in the UK unless you have seats in the House of Commons that have been gained through election for those seats.

Just to recap on the 2017 General Election in the UK, held on 8^th June 2017: There are 650 constituencies and each constituency elects a Member to represent them in the House of Commons in Parliament.

The results from the 2017 election were:

               Conservative   Labour       SNP    Lib Dem    DUP     Sinn Fein

Seats Won               317                 262              35            12               10              7

Popular Vote      13,636,684     2,878.460     977,569    2,371,910    292,316    238,916

                               42.4%            40.0%          3.0%        7.4%           0.9%         0.7%

Others: Clwyd Cymru 4 seats; Green Party 1 seat; Speaker & Deputies 4 seats; Ind 1 seat

UK Parliamentary Divide

Who would I choose?

Personally, I would favour Dominic Raab. He says what he believes and speaks from his convictions and whether you like what he has to say or not, he seems more genuinely honest. He would take Britain out of the EU by 31^st October without paying the ridiculous £39 billion tribute.

I like his opposition to feminism. He would abolish the women’s minister. With women getting far more social advantages than ever there is no need for such a position. I would like to see the abolition of foreign aid (except for emergency relief for natural disasters. Foreign Aid creates dependency by recipient countries and has been shown to inhibit their natural development.