Conservative MPs will start whittling down the leadership candidates to four next week, the first stage in a long contest from which a winner will not emerge until 2 November. Here are the six candidates in the running to replace Rishi Sunak.
Kemi Badenoch
The former business secretary is a close ally of Michael Gove and has a number of ex-ministerial endorsements, including from Jesse Norman and Andrew Bowie. A key figure on the party’s right, Badenoch has never been afraid to wade into the culture wars, including on women-only spaces and race discrimination.
The Guardian revealed she had been accused of creating an intimidating atmosphere in the Department for Business and Trade, which she used to run, with some colleagues describing it as toxic.
Odds: 2/1
Robert Jenrick
The former immigration minister has based his campaign on the need to win back Reform voters and has become the favourite candidate of many key figures on the party’s right, including John Hayes, Christopher Chope and Danny Kruger.
Jenrick quit Sunak’s government over a failure to enact the Rwanda deportation scheme and bring down migration numbers, though he had previously been close to the former prime minister.
Odds: 13/10
Tom Tugendhat
Often seen as the bright hope of the one nation Tory centrists, the former security minister chaired the foreign affairs select committee has spent time over the summer trying to reach across the party and expel doubts about him as a liberal remainer.
A former soldier who was a key critic of Boris Johnson’s administration, he has high-profile backers, including Damian Green and Jake Berry, but many of them are no longer MPs.
Odds: 4/1
James Cleverly
Cleverly is the candidate who has held the most high-profile jobs in government – both home secretary and foreign secretary – and he has also been party chair so is familiar and popular with grassroots members.
He has billed himself as the party’s great unifier but, having served under so many different prime ministers, critics say they have little idea of what his own politics and ideas are.
Odds: 5/1
Priti Patel
As the former home secretary who introduced the Rwanda scheme, Patel is also popular with the Tory grassroots and is close to Johnson.
She has spent a period in the wilderness since resigning as home secretary with the impending premiership of Liz Truss, and is seen by many to be politically toxic because of the failure of the Rwanda scheme and bullying allegations that were upheld against her at the Home Office.
Odds: 12/1
Mel Stride
Stride was the designated “minister for the Today programme” during the election, being one of the few cabinet ministers who was not defending a marginal seat and was still close to Sunak.
The former work and pensions secretary has the least resourced operation but has garnered an impressive number of endorsements from MPs – though very few expect him to make it through the first rounds of voting.
Odds: 33/1
