伦敦-利兹·特拉斯(Liz Truss)周四辞去英国首相一职，引发了英国分裂和士气低落的保守党的又一场领袖竞选——这是四个月内的第二场。
仅上任45天就辞职的特拉斯表示，她的继任者将在下周结束的领导竞争中选出。负责监督该党领导权挑战的资深保守派议员格雷厄姆·布雷迪(Graham Brady)表示，每位候选人必须获得立法者的100项提名才能参加竞选，竞选将于下周五结束。
前财政部长Rishi Sunak，前内阁部长Penny morda ntain和国防部长Ben Wallace被认为是最高职位的可靠竞争者。前首相鲍里斯·约翰逊也可能回归。杰里米·亨特被任命为新的财政部长来管理经济，他已经排除了参选的可能性。
无论谁获胜，都将成为英国六年来的第五任首相。
以下是潜在的跑步者和骑手:
RISHI SUNAK，前财政部长
42岁的Sunak在上次保守党领袖竞选中排名第二，获得60，399张选票，而她的票数为81，326张。
今年7月，他辞去了财政部长一职，以抗议时任总理鲍里斯·约翰逊(Boris Johnson)的领导。在取代约翰逊的竞争中，Sunak将自己定位为讲述英国公共财政严峻事实的候选人。他认为必须首先控制不断攀升的通货膨胀，并将Truss和其他竞争对手立即大幅减税的承诺称为鲁莽的“童话”
9月份，当Truss的无资金支持的减税经济刺激方案导致英镑下跌并引发市场混乱时，Sunak被证明是正确的。
苏纳克在2020年成为财政部长，并通过冠状病毒疫情引导英国低迷的经济。他监督政府拨款数十亿英镑帮助受新冠肺炎重创的企业和工人。
Sunak被许多人视为保守党最耀眼的新星。Sunak的父母是从东非移居英国的印度人，他在牛津大学学习，就读于温彻斯特学院私立学校。一些人认为他的精英教育和为投资银行高盛和对冲基金工作是一种负担，因为这让他看起来与普通选民脱节。
在过去的一年里，他因对英国生活成本危机反应迟缓而受到严厉批评。他的声誉也受到了打击，因为他在2020年6月参加了唐宁街的一场无视封锁的生日派对，被警方罚款。
一些人也批评他，因为他的妻子阿克沙塔·穆尔蒂(Akshata Murthy)被揭露逃避缴纳海外收入税。
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佩妮·莫达恩，下议院领袖
49岁的莫达恩在上次保守党领袖竞选中排在苏纳克和特拉斯之后，名列第三，当时她参加了一场名为“下午4点”的竞选活动。莫迪阿姨在约翰逊的内阁中没有高级职位，她把自己定位为与他丑闻缠身的政府彻底决裂。
作为前国际贸易部长，莫尔达纳特在保守派议员中很受欢迎。一些人认为她可能是帮助弥合党内分歧的合适人选。但对大多数英国人来说，她基本上是一个默默无闻的人物，在保守圈子之外，她最出名的是在2014年的真人秀节目“飞溅!”
莫迪阿姨在支持英国退出欧盟的运动中发挥了突出的作用。她是2019年成为英国国防部长的第一位女性-尽管她在任职仅三个月后就被约翰逊撤职，因为她支持另一位政党领袖候选人杰里米·亨特。
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苏埃拉·布雷弗曼，前内政大臣
42岁的布雷弗曼周三晚些时候辞去了内政大臣的职务，并写了一封措辞严厉的信批评特拉斯的“混乱”的首相任期。她的举动开启了英国政坛的混乱之夜，并在几小时后以特拉斯的辞职而告终。
布雷弗曼曾是一名律师，2020年成为英格兰司法部长，她是今年夏天取代约翰逊的领导人竞选中第一个参选的人。
布雷弗曼在担任内政大臣(监督移民和反恐的最高政府职位)的短暂任期内，发誓要严厉打击寻求庇护者，称她“梦想”看到一架飞机将那些在英国寻求庇护的人驱逐到卢旺达。她还想让英国退出欧洲人权公约。
当她最近在议会抱怨工会罢工造成的旅行中断应归咎于左翼的“吃豆腐的wokerati”时，她成为了头条新闻，并受到了反对者的嘲笑。
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国防部长本·华莱士
52岁的退伍军人华莱士在保守党内很受欢迎。他因直言不讳而赢得了崇拜者，尤其是敦促英国增加国防开支的保守派议员。
在英国对俄罗斯乌克兰战争的回应中，华莱士提升了自己作为政府关键声音的形象。但他最近表示，他想留在目前的工作岗位上。据报道，本周早些时候，当被问及是否想要这一最高职位时，他说“我想当国防部长，直到我结束”。
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鲍里斯·约翰逊，前首相
周四有大量猜测称，58岁的约翰逊可能会回来，再次担任首相——就在几周前，他因一系列道德丑闻被迫下台。
在特拉斯辞职的几个小时内，约翰逊的几个保守派盟友表示支持他回归。
“唯一得到公众授权的人是鲍里斯·约翰逊，”议员马可·隆吉(Boris Johnson)说。"他是唯一能够履行人民赋予的使命的人。"
约翰逊在2019年大选中带领保守党取得了几十年来最大的胜利，这在很大程度上是因为他承诺“把英国退出欧盟搞定”
但他在任期间，由于国家新冠肺炎限制实施期间，在他的官邸举办酒精派对的丑闻，他的任期蒙上了阴影。他仍然面临议会特权委员会正在进行的调查，调查他是否在唐宁街违反COVID规则的问题上向立法者撒谎。
他被迫在7月7日宣布辞职，此前他内阁中的前盟友加入了抗议他领导的政府官员大规模出走的行列。
Sunak, Mordaunt, Johnson? Contenders who could replace Truss
LONDON --Liz Truss' resignation as British Prime Minister on Thursday triggered another leadership race — the second in just four months — for the U.K.'s fractured and demoralized Conservative Party.
Truss, who quit after just 45 days in office, said her successor will be chosen in a leadership contest to be completed by the end of next week. Graham Brady, a senior Conservative lawmaker who oversees the party’s leadership challenges, said each candidate must secure 100 nominations from legislators to run and that the race will conclude by next Friday.
Former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, ex-Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace are among those considered credible contenders for the top job. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson may also return. Jeremy Hunt, who has been brought in as new Treasury chief to steer the economy, has ruled out running.
Whoever wins will become the fifth British prime minister in six years.
Here's a look at the potential runners and riders:
RISHI SUNAK, FORMER TREASURY CHIEF
Sunak, 42, came second to Truss in the last Conservative leadership race, gathering 60,399 votes compared to her 81,326.
He quit as Treasury chief in July, in protest against then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson's leadership. In the contest to replace Johnson, Sunak positioned himself as the candidate who tells hard truths about Britain's public finances. He argued that climbing inflation must be controlled first, and called promises by Truss and other rivals to immediately slash taxes reckless “fairy tales.”
Sunak was proved right when Truss' unfunded tax-cutting economic stimulus package tanked the British pound and triggered chaos in the markets in September.
Sunak became Treasury chief in 2020 and steered Britain's slumping economy through the coronavirus pandemic. He oversaw billions of pounds in government handouts to help businesses and workers hard hit by COVID-19.
Sunak was regarded by many as the Conservatives' brightest rising star. Born to Indian parents who moved to Britain from East Africa, Sunak attended the exclusive Winchester College private school and studied at Oxford. Some see his elite education and work for the investment bank Goldman Sachs and a hedge fund as a liability because it makes him seem out of touch with ordinary voters.
In the past year he faced heavy criticism for being slow to respond to Britain's cost-of-living crisis. His reputation also took a hit after he was fined by police for attending a lockdown-flouting birthday party at Downing Street in June 2020.
Some also criticized him following revelations that his wife, Akshata Murthy, avoided paying taxes on her overseas income.
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PENNY MORDAUNT, HOUSE OF COMMONS LEADER
Mordaunt, 49, came third after Sunak and Truss in the last Tory leadership race, when she ran with a campaign named “PM 4 PM.” Mordaunt did not hold a senior post in Johnson’s Cabinet, and she positioned herself as offering a clean break from his scandal-tainted government.
A former international trade minister, Mordaunt is popular among Conservative lawmakers. Some believe she could be the right candidate to help heal the party's divisions. But she is largely an unknown figure to most Britons, and outside Conservative circles she remains best known for appearing on the 2014 reality TV show “Splash!”
Mordaunt played a prominent role in the pro-Brexit campaign. She was the first woman to become British defense secretary in 2019 -- though she was removed by Johnson after just three months in the post because she had backed another candidate for party leader, Jeremy Hunt.
SUELLA BRAVERMAN, EX-HOME SECRETARY
Braverman, 42, resigned as Home Secretary late Wednesday, with a scathing letter criticizing Truss' “tumultuous” premiership. Her move kicked off a chaotic night in British politics that ended in Truss' resignation hours later.
A former barrister who became England’s attorney general in 2020, Braverman was the first to put her hat in the ring during this summer's leadership race to replace Johnson.
During her short tenure as Home Secretary, a top government post overseeing immigration and counterterrorism, Braverman vowed to crack down hard on asylum seekers, saying it was her “dream” to see a flight deporting those seeking refuge in Britain to Rwanda. She also wanted to pull the U.K. out of the European Convention on Human rights.
She made headlines — and was mocked by opponents — when she complained recently in Parliament that travel disruptions caused by trade union strikes were to be blamed on left-wing, “tofu-eating wokerati."
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BEN WALLACE, DEFENSE SECRETARY
Wallace, a 52-year-old army veteran, is popular within the Conservative Party. He has won admirers for his straight talk, particularly among Conservative lawmakers who pressed for the U.K. to increase its defense spending.
Wallace has raised his profile as a key government voice in Britain’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. But he recently said he wanted to remain in his current job. Earlier this week, he reportedly said “I want to be the Secretary of State for Defense until I finish” when asked if he wanted the top job.
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BORIS JOHNSON, FORMER PRIME MINISTER
There was intense speculation Thursday that Johnson, 58, may return and put himself forward as prime minister again — just weeks after he was forced out of office by a series of ethics scandals.
Within hours of Truss' resignation, several Conservative allies of Johnson's voiced their support for him to return.
“The only person who has a mandate from the general public is Boris Johnson," said one lawmaker, Marco Longhi. “He is the only person who can discharge the mandate from the people."
Johnson led the Conservatives to their biggest win in decades in the 2019 general election, largely on the back of his promise to “get Brexit done.”
But his time in office was overshadowed by scandals over alcohol-fueled parties held at his official residence while national COVID-19 restrictions were in place. He still faces an ongoing investigation by Parliament's privileges committee into whether he lied to lawmakers about COVID-rule breaking at Downing Street.
He was forced to announce his resignation on July 7 after former allies in his Cabinet joined a mass exodus of government officials protesting his leadership.
