A local political analyst says Boris Johnson could be elected for a second term as British Prime Minister if he can get through to an online vote by the Tory party membership.
Candidates to replace Liz Truss need to get at least 100 nominations from MPs.
If there are more than two that break the 100 nomination threshold, they will be whittled down in a number of voting rounds before the last two go before the general membership.
Local Labour Party activist Sean Butler says he thinks Penny Mordaunt could win the race, but he says her grandfather was a Wexford man who was a republican a hundred years ago.
He told KCLR “Penny Mordaunt, has local connections; her family is from Wexford originally, and we could end up with if she did get elected, we have a Conservative Tory Prime Minister whose grandfather fought on the republican side in the civil war. Now that would be an interesting dynamic when she goes to meet the unionist.”
He adds, “If Boris does get through, I think the Tory membership will elect him. The question is, can he get 100 MPs to get him over the line and get him into the race—that’s going to be the difficult part for him, but I wouldn’t rule out that we’re going to see Boris back as Prime Minister, as crazy as that may seem.”
Meanwhile, former Fine Gael Senator Pat O’Neill says Johnson is unlikely to have enough support among the MPs for a serious run at regaining the leadership of the party and the country.
He said, “If he’s getting $100,000 to $150,000 to make these after-dinner speeches, I think it’s a better-paying job than British Prime Minister so look, I don’t think he’ll be in the race because I don’t think the MPs-he won’t get 100 MPs because I don’t think they have the confidence in him because he has caused the mess they are in now.”
