There will be another leadership contest 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 term.
But who could be the next leader? These are the main runners and riders.
Rishi Sunak
Sunak has proven to be something of a prophet of the government’s demise, as many of the predictions he made this summer about Truss’ economic plan came true.
The former Treasury Secretary (Treasury Secretary) warned that Truss’s unfunded tax cuts would lead to a run on sterling, bond market panic and concerns from the International Monetary Fund. Perhaps even he would have been surprised by the pace at which he was proved right.
Sunak has experience fighting economic crises and has led the UK through the Covid-19 pandemic. He is also popular among MPs, as he gained more votes in parliament than Truss before MEPs were given a choice between the final candidates, losing only narrowly in the final vote.
The confidence he has among MPs — and the justification his predictions have been given — makes him perhaps the most likely next set of hands to steer the ship.
Penny Mordaunt
The House of Commons leader may have had a dress rehearsal to be prime minister this week after jumping in for an absent Liz Truss during a debate.
“The Prime Minister is not under a desk,” Mordaunt confirmed on Tuesday — in a performance that seemed to be pitching as much about himself as it was about helping the Prime Minister.
Mordaunt came in third in the latest leadership election and narrowly missed out on being placed in front of the members – whom she expected to do well, in part because of her military credentials. Mordaunt is a Royal Navy reservist.
Like Sunak, she comes from the more moderate wing of the party. There was even talk among MPs that the two would form a “dream team” ticket, though this has yet to materialize – and it’s unclear whether Sunak would settle for becoming chancellor again.
Grant Shapps
It is a sign of the turmoil of the last days of the Truss administration that she has elevated Grant Shapps to Home Secretary, despite not offering him any ministerial role when she first took office.
Shapps served as transportation secretary under Boris Johnson. He introduced himself to succeed him in the previous leadership elections – only to withdraw from the race three days later, after failing to vote the required 20 MPs to advance to the next round.
Kemi Badenoch
Badenoch came fourth in the leadership election this summer, but was consistently rated as a favorite among conservative supporters by opinion polls.
Badenoch, one of the younger MPs in the race, quickly gained the endorsement of long-serving Tory great Michael Gove, who praised her as the “outstanding talent” in the party.
Badenoch is on the right of the Tory party, suggesting in her previous leadership opportunity that the government’s climate targets could prove too expensive.
Boris Johnson
Just a few months ago, Johnson had a comfortable majority in parliament and even claimed he was even thinking about his third term — to widespread ridicule. Despite Labor being ravaged by a seemingly endless string of scandals, Labor still lagged in the polls – and Johnson had no apparent competitor in the party.
In his final speech as Prime Minister outside 10 Downing Street, Johnson made one of his emblematic allusions to ancient history. He said he would “return to his squad” like the Roman statesman Cincinnatus – suggesting a quieter life in the back seats.
But that’s not how Cincinnatus lived his days. He was recalled from his squad to return to Rome for a second term – this time as dictator.
The memories of ‘Partygate’, the protracted scandal that eventually led to his downfall, may still be too fresh for MPs to call Johnson back.
But with the Tory party being electorally forgotten, the man who won an 80-seat majority in 2019 may prove a tempting option for many MPs.
Other names in the hat
Suella BravermanWednesday night’s resignation as Home Secretary may have foreshadowed a potential leadership bid. The former attorney general has not competed before, but her tough stance on immigration looks set to drag the party further to the right.
Tom Tugendhat emerged as a surprising favorite among Tory members and the wider public, despite finishing only fifth in the last leadership election. Not having served as a cabinet minister before that match, Tugendhat distanced himself from the moral mess of the Johnson government and promised a “clean start” for Britain. After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Tugendhat was appointed Secretary of Security by Truss.
Ben Wallace, defense secretary and another ex-serviceman, was tipped to succeed Johnson in the latest leadership contest — polls are doing extremely well among Conservative members. However, he never took part in those elections and it is unclear whether his position will have changed since then.