Online
\nLondon
\nThe race to become the next Conservative Party leader has begun, following Theresa May\u2019s announcement that she will step down next month.
\nHealth Secretary Matt Hancock is the fifth Tory to enter the race.
\nHe told that delivering Brexit was \u201cmission critical\u201d and May\u2019s successor must be more \u201cbrutally honest\u201d about the \u201ctrade-offs\u201d required to get a deal through Parliament.
\nThe leadership contest will determine who is the UK\u2019s next prime minister.
\nParty bosses expect a new leader to be chosen by the end of July.
\nMay confirmed on Friday that she will resign as party leader on 7 June, but will continue as PM while the leadership contest takes place.
\nShe agreed with chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, that the process to choose a new leader should begin the week after she stands down.
\nAnnouncing his candidacy, Mr Hancock ruled out a snap general election in order to resolve the Brexit stalemate, saying this would be \u201cdisastrous for the country\u201d and would risk seeing the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in power \u201cby Christmas\u201d.
\nInstead, he said his focus would be on getting a Brexit deal through the current Parliament and \u201clevelling\u201d with MPs about what this would mean for the UK.
\nHe told Radio 4\u2019s Today programme he would be more upfront than Mrs May had been about what compromises the UK would have to make to continue to access EU markets.
\nHe said there was no point in becoming prime minister unless he was straight-forward about the trade offs – \u201cbetween sovereignty and market access and the trade-offs to get a deal through this Parliament\u201d.
\nHe also said the party needed a \u201cleader for the future not just for now\u201d, capable of appealing to younger voters.
\n\u201cWe need to move on from the horrible politics of the last three years,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe need a fresh start and a fresh face to ensure this country wins the battles of the 2020s and remains prosperous for many years to come.\u201d
\nStewart warned other candidates to tell the truth about what a no-deal Brexit would mean.
\n\u201cThere are huge tensions in the race,\u201d he told Radio 4\u2019s Today.
\n\u201cPeople will be encouraged to promise things they can\u2019t deliver… the most dramatic of which are people who are going to be encouraged to promise a no-deal Brexit.\u201d
\nHe said Parliament would simply not vote for leaving the EU without a deal and, even if the UK did leave that way, it would leave the country in a limbo.
\n\u201cIt is not a destination. It is a failure to reach a destination. What they are probably promising is failure, delay and endless uncertainty.\u201d
\nMore than a dozen more senior Conservatives are believed to be seriously considering running – including Sir Graham, who has resigned as chair of the 1922 Committee.
\nWork and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd has ruled herself out, telling.
\nShe also hinted that she could work with Johnson in the future, saying: \u201cI have worked with him before… we were able to work together.\u201d
\nOn Friday, Environment Secretary Michael Gove – another possible candidate – declined to say whether he would stand, saying it was \u201cthe prime minister\u2019s day\u201d.
\nMost bookmakers have Johnson as favourite, in front of former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and Gove.
\nTory MPs have until the week commencing 10 June to put their name forward, and any of them can stand – as long as they have the backing of two parliamentary colleagues.
\nThe candidates will be whittled down until two remain, and in July all party members will vote to decide on the winner.
\nThe Conservative Party had 124,000 members, as of March last year. The last leader elected by the membership was David Cameron in 2005, as Theresa May was unopposed in 2016.
\nIt will be the first time Conservative members have directly elected a prime minister, as opposed to a leader of the opposition.
\nAnnouncing her departure in Downing Street, May urged her successor to \u201cseek a way forward that honours the result of the referendum\u201d.
\nShe added: \u201cTo succeed, he or she will have to find consensus in Parliament where I have not.\u201d
\nJohnson told an economic conference in Switzerland on Friday that a new leader would have \u201cthe opportunity to do things differently\u201d.
\nOutlining his Brexit position, he told the conference: \u201cWe will leave the EU on 31 Otober, deal or no deal. The way to get a good deal is to prepare for a no deal.\u201d
\nMeanwhile, a senior Labour figure had suggested the party may need to harden its position on another Brexit referendum if the Tories elect someone willing to pursue a no-deal exit.
\nJohn McDonnell told Today that \u201csome form of public vote\u201d would definitely be needed in that situation and he would seek to talk to MPs from all parties to potentially try and bring down a government that tried to take the UK out without a deal.
\nMost members of most parties in the UK are pretty middle-class. But Conservative Party members are the most middle-class of all: 86% fall into the ABC1 category.
\nAround a quarter of them are, or were, self-employed and nearly half of them work, or used to, in the private sector.
\nNearly four out of 10 put their annual income at over \u00a330,000, and one in 20 put it at over \u00a3100,000. As such, Tory members are considerably better-off than most voters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Online London The race to become the next Conservative Party leader has begun, following Theresa May\u2019s announcement that she will step down next month. Health Secretary Matt Hancock is the fifth Tory to enter the race. He told that delivering Brexit was \u201cmission critical\u201d and May\u2019s successor must be more \u201cbrutally honest\u201d about the \u201ctrade-offs\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n