London - The contest to replace Theresa
May as British prime minister hotted up on Saturday with five
candidates now vying for a job whose central task will be to
find a way to take a divided Britain out of the European Union.
May announced on Friday she was quitting over her failure to
deliver Brexit, raising the prospect of a new leader who could
seek a more divisive split with the EU which could lead to
confrontation with the bloc or a possible parliamentary
election.
British health minister Matt Hancock became the latest
figure to join the contest to replace May, following former
foreign minister Boris Johnson, current foreign minister Jeremy
Hunt, International Development Secretary Rory Stewart and
former work and pensions minister Esther McVey.
About a dozen contenders in total are thought to be
considering a tilt at the leadership, with trade minister Liam
Fox and former junior Brexit minister Steve Baker not ruling out
a challenge when asked on Saturday.
May failed three times to get a divorce deal she agreed with
the EU through parliament because of deep, long-term divisions
in the Conservative Party over Europe. It meant the original
exit date of March 29 has been extended until Oct. 31 to see if
any compromise could be reached.
All those standing say they can succeed where she failed,
although the EU has said it would not renegotiate the treaty it
had agreed with May.
"Of course we have to deliver Brexit and I will," Hancock
told BBC radio. "We have to propose a deal that will get through
this parliament. We have to be brutally honest about the
trade-offs."
The issue is set to dominate the contest which will begin in
the week of June 10 when Conservative lawmakers begin to whittle
down the field before party members choose the winner from the
final two candidates.
JOHNSON THE FAVOURITE
Surveys have suggested that the members are overwhelmingly
pro-Brexit and in favour of leaving the EU without a deal.
Boris Johnson is the clear favourite with bookmakers and he
has said Britain should be prepared to exit the bloc without any
deal if no acceptable agreement could be reached.
"We will leave the EU on October 31, deal or no deal,"
Johnson told an economic conference in Switzerland on Friday.
The party's divisions over the EU has led to the demise of
its last four prime ministers - May, David Cameron, John Major
and Margaret Thatcher - and there is little indication these
schisms will be healed soon.
"There are huge tensions in this race which are that people
will be encouraged to promise things they can't deliver, of
those probably the most dramatic are people who are going to be
encouraged to promise a no-deal Brexit," one of the contenders,
Rory Stewart, told BBC radio.
While parliament repeatedly rejected May's accord, lawmakers
have also previously voted against leaving without any deal.
Stewart said he could not serve in a Johnson government that was
prepared to accept a no-deal Brexit.
"I think it would be a huge mistake, damaging, unnecessary
and I think also dishonest," Stewart said.
With no majority in parliament, the Conservatives only
govern with the support of the small Northern Irish Democratic
Unionist Party, a factor that has constantly weakened May's
hand.
The opposition Labour Party, which called for an immediate
election after May's announcement, said it would seek a vote of
no confidence in the government if it looked like it might pass,
while it has also not ruled out backing a second referendum.
"It looks almost certain we're going to be faced with a
Conservative leader who is a hard Brexiteer willing to take the
country over the edge of a no-deal no matter what the damage to
jobs or people's livelihoods," Labour finance spokesman John
McDonnell told BBC radio.
"Faced with that situation, I think there may well be a
majority in the House of Commons willing to bring about some
form of public vote and that could include a general election."