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A new leadership contest will take place within a week, Liz Truss said in her resignation speech.
This will be the fifth Conservative prime minister in just over six years – and the third within this parliamentary term.
But who might the next leader be? Here are the main runners and riders.
Rishi Sunak
Sunak has proved to be something of a prophet of the government’s demise, as many of the predictions he made during this summer’s leadership about Truss’s economic plan came to pass.
The former Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) warned that Truss’s unfunded tax cuts would lead to a run on sterling, a panic in the bond market and concern from the International Monetary Fund. Perhaps even he would have been surprised by the pace with which he was proved right.
Sunak has experience of economic crisis-fighting, having guided the UK through the Covid-19 pandemic. He is also popular among MPs, having secured more votes within Parliament than Truss before the choice between the final candidates was put to the members, and only losing narrowly in the final vote.
The trust he has among MPs – and the vindication his predictions have gained – may make him the most likely next set of hands to steer the ship.
Penny Mordaunt
The Leader of the House of Commons may have had a dress rehearsal for being prime minister this week, after stepping in for an absent Liz Truss at a debate.
“The prime minister is not under a desk,” Mordaunt confirmed Tuesday – in a performance that seemed as much about pitching herself as it did about helping the PM.
Mordaunt came third in the last leadership election, narrowly missing out on being put before the members – among whom she was expected to do well, in part due to her military credentials. Mordaunt is a reservist of the Royal Navy.
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Source : cnn
