Boris Johnson will spearhead a bid to depose former Labour minister Baroness Scotland as Commonwealth head next week.
According to Whitehall insiders, the Prime Minister will use a summit in Rwanda to press member nations to remove the peer.
Since 2016, Lady Scotland has served as the organization’s secretary-general. She’s been branded ‘Baroness Brazen’ for her extravagant spending in the job, a moniker she calls ‘unfair.’
Her term was supposed to end in 2020, but due to the pandemic, it has been continuously extended.
Lady Scotland will seek re-election to a second term when Commonwealth leaders meet in Kigali, Rwanda, next Friday, according to Commonwealth officials.
Mr Johnson, on the other hand, has officially endorsed a rival candidate from another country, which is an extremely rare step.
Last month, he sent a message to Jamaican Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith, expressing his support for Lady Scotland’s removal from the summit.
Mrs Johnson Smith, according to the Prime Minister, has “huge expertise and support to unite our unique family of nations and grab the opportunities ahead.”
Officials from the government would to say why Mr Johnson wants Lady Scotland to go, but one claimed it was ‘time for a change,’ while another stated frankly, ‘He doesn’t like her.’
Lady Scotland spent £338,000 redecorating her grace-and-favour flat in Mayfair just months after she took office in 2016.
Then, in 2018, Ram Venuprasad, a former deputy head of her office, got about £300,000 in compensation after alleging he was wrongfully blamed by her for spending leaks.
India, Singapore, and Trinidad and Tobago are among the Commonwealth countries who have officially backed Mrs Johnson Smith.
The move sets the stage for a tense confrontation in Kigali.
Lady Scotland, who served as Attorney General under Gordon Brown, will not be given an automatic second term, the Prime Minister will seek to persuade fellow leaders.
If he is elected, the 54 Commonwealth leaders would convene a conclave to elect a new leader for the organization, which represents 2.4 billion people around the world.
Lady Scotland, according to sources, will fight to save her job despite challenges from Mrs Johnson Smith and maybe other contenders.
Lady Scotland has promised to step down after two years, when it will be Africa’s turn to submit a candidate, in order to win over African leaders in the bloc.
‘Throughout her first tenure, the Secretary General has been fiercely focused on delivering for Commonwealth countries,’ said a spokesman for Lady Scotland.