Politics | UK nominations closed in race to be next leader

Nominations closed yesterday in the Brexit-dominated race to become Britain’s next prime minister, a contest that will be decided by lawmakers and members of the governing Conservative Party.

With a 12 a.m. (local time) deadline to submit nomination papers, almost a dozen contenders were already battling it out over tax policy, past drug use — and, of course, Britain’s stalled departure from the European Union.

The winner will face the challenge of breaking Britain’s impasse over Brexit, an issue that has bedeviled politicians for three years and ultimately defeated outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May.

May stepped down Friday as Conservative leader after failing to secure Parliament’s backing for her EU withdrawal deal. She will remain caretaker prime minister until the party picks its new leader, a process expected to take until late July.

Eleven candidates have declared they are running, including former Cabinet minister Boris Johnson, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Environment Secretary Michael Gove.

For all of them, the key issue is Brexit. The Conservatives have been hammered in recent European and local elections as voters punish the party for failing to leave the 28-nation EU.

“Our failure to deliver Brexit has put our country and party in grave peril,” Hunt said as he officially launched his campaign yesterday. “Without Brexit there will be no Conservative government and maybe no Conservative Party.”

The candidates divide into those, including Hunt, who say they will prioritize finding a divorce deal that’s acceptable both to the EU and to Parliament, and hard-core Brexit backers such as Johnson who say the U.K. must leave on the scheduled date of Oct. 31. — with or without a deal.

Gove, one of the front-runners, is trying to limit fallout from his admission of long- ago cocaine use, which has brought allegations that the former justice secretary — who oversaw a system that sends drug users to prison — is a hypocrite.

The other contenders have also confessed to past use of drugs, in most cases marijuana.

The contest’s winner will be chosen in a two-stage process. First, the 313 Conservative lawmakers will vote in a series of rounds starting Thursday, with the worst performers dropping out until only two candidates remain. The final two will be put to a postal vote among the 160,000 Conservative Party members in the country.

The favorite on betting markets is Johnson, a former foreign secretary with an instantly recognizable mop of blond hair and a knack for entertaining the public.

He says he will take Britain out of the bloc without a deal if necessary, and promised a tax cut for millions of middle- and high-income Britons.

Unlike the other candidates, Johnson hasn’t given television interviews or held any public events, as his campaign team tries to avoid gaffes that could spoil his front-runner status.

Several candidates appeared to take aim at Johnson in comments yesterday.

“We won’t deliver Brexit with bluff and bluster,” said former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, who is competing with Johnson for the support of hardcore Brexiteers.

Hunt said the party needed a “serious leader.”

“We need tough negotiation, not empty rhetoric,” he said. Jill Lawless, London, AP