BRITAIN'S international trade secretary is considering running for prime minister following today's sudden resignation of Liz Truss and the announcement by the Conservative Party that it will elect a new leader by September 28.
This afternoon, Mrs Truss resigned as the prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland after just 45 days in office. Her announcement, made outside Downing Street, follows the near-complete evaporation of her political authority which came about as a result of a crash in the money markets and the loss of two key ministers over the last week.
Ms Badenoch, who ran for prime minister in the summer when Ms Truss was elected, is now expected to be a candidate alongside the likes of Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt and a potentially surprise candidate in Boris Johnson. Already, Graham Brady, the chairman of the Conservative Party's Backbench 1922 Committee, has announced that the contest will take place this month.
Currently the Member of Parliament for Saffron Walden, Ms Badenoch came fourth in the last leadership election, securing 59 votes among fellow MPs before being eliminated. One of her allies has issued a statement saying she is consulting with colleagues about how to fill the vacuum created by the resignation of Ms Truss.
This ally said: "It should not be a coronation. The party needs to think about generational change and making sure the next person comes without baggage.
"Now that the prime minister has announced her resignation, the party must unite around a new leader who restores trust in politics and delivers good government for the British people. Kemi is in conversations with colleagues about how best to achieve this."
Ms Truss has said she will stay on until a new leader and prime minister is elected after saying she recognised that given the situation, she cannot deliver the mandate on which she was elected by the Conservative Party. Already, she has spoken with Kong Charles to inform him, that she shall be resigning as prime minister.
Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party has called for an immediate general election, saying the Conservative Party has shown it no longer has a mandate to govern. He added that after 12 years of Tory failure, the British people deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos.
"In the last few years, the Tories have set record-high taxation, trashed our institutions and created a cost-of-living crisis. Now, they have crashed the economy so badly that people are facing £500 a month extra on their mortgages. The damage they have done will take years to fix.
Each one of these crises was made in Downing Street but paid for by the British public. Each one has left our country weaker and worse off. The Tories cannot respond to their latest shambles by yet again simply clicking their fingers and shuffling the people at the top without the consent of the British people," Sir Starmer added.
