the Panaji Holy Cross shrine.Nine people in race for British Prime Minister and Sunak is in lead

By Our Special Correspondent

British Indian Former Cabinet Minister Rishi Sunak maintained his lead as the race replace Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and next UK Prime Minister widened on Sunday with a total of nine candidates in the fray, with Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt emerging as an early second favorite.

Mordaunt shared a #pm4pm video to announce her candidacy, following Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Pakistani-origin former Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

The complete line-up so far for the leadership race includes Goan-origin Attorney General Suella Braverman, Iraqi-origin Nadhim Zahawi, Nigerian-origin Kemi Bedanoch and Tory Backbencher Tom Tugendhat.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is expected to declare her candidacy soon too, taking the total to 10 potential candidates in one of the widest battlefields for a Tory leadership race. The 42 years old son in law of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy had launched his bid with a pledge to restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite the country.

He is yet to lay out his plans in full but has so far not indicated any immediate tax cuts if elected leader. For the traditionally low tax favoring Conservative Party, the focus of the race is expected to be on the Candidates plans to cut taxes.

However, the race to succeed Boris Johnson as British Prime Minister got bloody for the governing Conservative Party on Sunday, with reports of damaging briefings against frontrunner Rishi Sunak and even a so-called mucky memo or dirty dossier doing the Tory WhatsApp group rounds.

The 424-word attack seen by The Sunday Telegraph contains personal attacks branding the British Indian Former Chancellor a schoolboy and a liar, who cannot be trusted on tax. Headlined get Ready for Rishi after Sunak’s Ready4Rishi campaign launch, the memo reportedly brands him as having a Big Tax and Big Spend agenda. It’s coming from that Thatcherite wing of the party that was loyal to Boris; the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

The memo criticizes Sunak Personally, saying he publicly lied when seeking to explain his Indian wife Akshata Murty’s legal non-domicile tax status.