Boris Johnson will cease to be the British prime minister on September 5, it was confirmed on Monday evening, and the rules for the forthcoming Conservative Party leadership election were agreed upon following a meeting of the 1922 Committee.
A large number of contenders for the position could be knocked out very early on.
One of the top contenders is Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch, a daughter of Nigerian-born parents, who was born January 2, 1980. She is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Saffron Walden since 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Minister of State for Local Government, Faith and Communities and Minister of State for Equalities between 2021 and 2022.
Badenoch was born in Wimbledon, London, to parents of Nigerian origin. Her childhood was spent in part in the US, and in Lagos, Nigeria. She returned to the United Kingdom at the age of 16. After studying Computer Systems Engineering at the University of Sussex, Badenoch worked as a software engineer at Logica. She went on to work at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group as a systems analyst before working as an associate director at Coutts and later as a director at The Spectator magazine.
After Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019, Badenoch was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families. In the February 2020 reshuffle, she was appointed Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities.
In September 2021, she was promoted to Minister of State for Equalities and appointed Minister of State for Local Government, Faith and Communities.
This month, she resigned as minister, and following Johnson’s resignation announcement, announced her candidacy in the Conservative Party leadership election.
The first round of voting will take place tomorrow after nominations close today at 6pm BST, with candidates requiring at least 20 supporters to proceed in the first ballot, the committee has confirmed.
This could mean that Suella Braverman, Rehman Chishti, Grant Shapps and even Sajid Javid could be knocked out even before the first round.
When The National saw Javid, a former chancellor, in Westminster yesterday evening, he looked downhearted, potentially dealing with the knowledge he had not secured sufficient votes to continue in the contest.
The rules also established that nominees for the second round on Thursday will require 30 nominations, suggesting that the field of candidates will be quickly narrowed down.
Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the committee, told the media that there could be only two candidates remaining by next Monday.
There is some discontent in the party that the process is moving too fast, without enough time for candidates to undergo the scrutiny of colleagues and the media.
But the rules signed off yesterday by the Conservative Board, which will make any challenge to the timetable impossible.
Sir Graham denied that the threshold for tomorrow and Thursday’s vote was too high for lesser-known candidates to make a mark.
“We do need to make sure there’s a decent period of time before the result is announced on September 5,” he said.
“We need to make sure there’s a reasonable chance for the party and the country to meet and question the candidates.”
The new rules were set a few hours after the Conservatives elected a new executive to the 1922 Committee, but with Sir Graham remaining as its chairman.
The remaining candidates will be subject to a series of live television debates, starting on Sunday on ITV then with Sky and potentially the BBC hosting the events, too.