October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election

October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election

← July–September 2022 24 October 2022

Candidate Rishi Sunak Popular vote Unopposed

Leader before election Liz Truss Elected Leader Rishi Sunak

The October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered by Liz Truss's announcement that she would resign as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, amid an economic and political crisis.^[1][2]

In the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election, Boris Johnson was elected to succeed Theresa May after she had been unable to secure a majority for her Brexit withdrawal agreement. After having lost his working majority to defections and his own suspensions of rebel Members of Parliament, Johnson called a general election on a platform of completing the UK's withdrawal from the European Union. In that general election, the Conservative Party won their biggest majority in Parliament since 1987, and Johnson was able to pass a revised version of May's withdrawal agreement. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, Johnson and his government had instituted public health restrictions, including limitations on social interaction, that Johnson and some of his staff were later found to have broken. The resulting political scandal (Partygate), one of many in a string of controversies that characterised Johnson's premiership, severely damaged his personal reputation. Johnson won a confidence vote by Conservative MPs in June 2022. The situation escalated with the Chris Pincher scandal in July 2022, and between 5 and 7 July, more than 60 government ministers, parliamentary private secretaries, trade envoys, and party vice-chairmen resigned in what was the largest mass resignation in British history. Many previously supportive MPs called for Johnson to resign. This brought about a government crisis, culminating on 7 July, when Johnson announced that he would resign as party leader. Johnson also announced that he would remain as prime minister until a successor was elected.^[3]

In the July-September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, Truss was elected to succeed Johnson. Truss and her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, announced large-scale tax cuts and borrowing in a mini-budget, which was widely criticised and largely reversed, having led to financial instability. Truss dismissed Kwarteng without explanation on 14 October and appointed Jeremy Hunt to succeed him. On the evening of 19 October, MPs voted to reject a motion which would guarantee parliamentary time for a bill to ban fracking in the UK. The vote was controversial as it was unclear whether a three-line-whip had been issued to Conservative MPs, ordering them to vote against it. Following these events, together with mounting criticism and loss of confidence in her leadership, Truss announced on 20 October her intention to resign as party leader and as prime minister, which made her the shortest-serving prime minister in British history.

Following a change of rules by the 1922 Committee, each potential leader needed the support of at least 100 MPs to be a candidate in the vote, with a deadline of 2 pm on 24 October to secure enough nominations.^[4] Two candidates put their names forward: Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council, and Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor of the Exchequer. Johnson was expected to enter the contest; it was stated he had exceeded the required number of MP backers but nevertheless decided not to stand. On 24 October, Mordaunt withdrew from the contest less than two minutes before the deadline for nominations,^[5] leaving Sunak the only candidate in the contest and enabling him to become party leader without a ballot of MPs or party members.^[6] He assumed the premiership on 25 October. In his victory speech, Sunak paid tribute to Truss and said that she "was not wrong" to want to implement growth and "admired her restlessness to create change", but admitted that "some mistakes were made" and promised to place economic stability and confidence at the heart of his government's agenda.