Remain ‘hatching plot to stop Boris becoming leader’
Rumoured plan involves rule change to ensure one final candidate is a woman to make it harder for former London mayor to win
BORIS JOHNSON will launch his bid to succeed David Cameron within days as senior Conservatives prepare to fight each other in a potentially bloody party leadership battle.
Fresh from Vote Leave’s referendum victory, Mr Johnson is said to have a team in place gathering names of supportive MPs, before formally declaring himself as a leadership candidate as early as this week.
His campaign ally, Michael Gove, is also being urged to stand against Mr Johnson as a “stop Boris” candidate, despite repeatedly saying he does not want the job.
Cabinet figures expect the next Prime Minister to come from among the ranks of Brexit supporters because he or she will be negotiating Britain’s departure from the EU.
However, other leading candidates who backed the Remain campaign are said to be preparing to launch their own leadership bids, including Theresa May, the Home Secretary, and Stephen Crabb, the Work and Pensions Secretary.
Today, Mr Crabb warns that the Tory party has lost touch with the working classes and must try to connect with communities that feel “despair” about the impact of immigration on their lives.
The Work and Pensions Secretary, who was raised by a single mother on a council estate, says voters in deprived communities feel “abandoned” by Westminster.
“These communities, once cradles of both social activisim and deep patriotism, cannot be ignored,” he writes below.
“The Conservative Party, with its unique and historic One Nation mission, must speak for them.”
Mr Crabb, who has been tipped as a future leader, does not declare whether he will put his name forward as a candidate but his article will be seen as a personal manifesto for the job of leader, signalling he would stand on a “modernising” platform of social reform. “The truth is that many white workingclass people no longer have a natural political home,” he says.
Mr Johnson, who won two terms as Mayor of London before leading Vote Leave to victory in the EU referendum, will portray himself as “a proven winner” who can lead the Tories to general election success, sources said.
He is also expected to emphasise his credentials as a modernising liberal Conservative with a social conscience, who wants to spread opportunity to people from deprived backgrounds who feel market forces have left them behind.
The election process will begin formally this week, when the leaders of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbench MPs meet to formulate the rules for the contest on Monday.
The rules will then be sent for approval by the Conservative Party Board on Tuesday, before MPs begin voting to whittle down the list of candidates to two. The first vote by MPs is expected to take place in the first week of July.
These final two names will be put on a ballot paper that is sent to party members across the country who then vote by post to choose their next leader.
Mr Johnson is the bookmakers’ favourite but there are reports of a plan being hatched by Remain campaigners to make it harder for him to win.
The rumoured “stop Boris” proposal would involve changing the election rules so that one of the two final contenders must be a woman. Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary who is keen to stand, has said she wants to see at least one woman among the final two candidates.
A senior Tory source said such a plot was “possible” but unlikely to succeed because MPs on the 1922 Committee do not like positive discrimination.
George Osborne, the Chancellor, once seen as almost certain to become prime minister, is expected to stand aside in the leadership contest after his Remain campaign lost the referendum.
One of the Chancellor’s allies said last night that he had been working “flat out” trying to stop the economy from crashing after the Brexit vote and had not had time to consider his own future.
Mrs May, who was seen as a reluctant supporter of the Remain camp, has not commented since Mr Cameron’s resignation on Friday. Her team of advisers have also gone to ground.
Mr Gove, the Vote Leave campaign chairman who is close to both Mr Osborne and Mr Johnson, has been described as a potential “kingmaker”. His endorsement in the contest could seal the victory for any candidate. Mr Gove told this newspaper last weekend he had ruled out ever standing for the leadership because he believed he lacked the qualities needed for the job. However, his allies said last night he was being urged to run as a candidate to replace Mr Cameron. Sources suggested the Justice Secretary was considering his colleagues’ expressions of support but was “very unlikely” to change his mind. With so many senior Tories badly scarred or tarnished by the referendum campaign, it is possible that the party will look to elect someone from a new generation of rising stars. Two Brexit backers who have impressed colleagues at Westminster – Dominic Raab, the justice minister, and Andrea Leadsom, the energy minister – are rumoured to be considering standing on a “joint ticket” as potential Prime Minister and Chancellor. Mrs Leadsom was one of Vote Leave’s star performers during the television debates. She and Mr Raab both entered Parliament in 2010 and are good friends as well as political allies in the Brexit campaign. There was speculation last night that one of the two could step aside to allow the other a clearer run for the leadership. They are likely to meet to discuss plans this week. Chris Grayling, leader of the Commons, and Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, have both been mentioned as possible candidates but sources said they are now seen as unlikely to enter the race. Others who could stand include Amber Rudd, the Energy Secretary, and Dr Liam Fox, the former defence secretary. One Cabinet minister said: “A lot of people will show some ankle in the next few days but I expect only perhaps three or four candidates will end up formally nominated for leader.” Mr Osborne decided he would not stand in the contest to succeed Michael Howard in 2005 to allow his friend Mr Cameron to be the candidate from the new generation.