The race to be the next Prime Minister is underway after the dramatic resignation of Liz Truss yesterday.
Ms Truss ended her disastrous reign after just six weeks in the job. Her position had become untenable as she lost support from her party and her polling plummeted after the economic chaos that followed her budget plans.
In her resignation speech, Ms Truss confirmed that having spoken with Tory backbench chair Sir Graham Brady, a process would begin immediately to elect a new Tory party leader and Prime Minister. Mr Brady then announced that the new PM would be elected by next Friday.
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Anyone who wants to enter the race has until 2pm on Monday to gather the nominations of 100 Conservative MPs to make it through to a vote.
While no one has formally declared they are running for the position, a number of key figures have emerged as the leading contenders. Here we take a quick look at the latest betting odds and predictions for who is the favourite for the job.
The main contenders now appear to be former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, whose resignation in the summer was the beginning of the end for his old boss, Boris Johnson. He felt he was best placed to take over but lost out badly in a vote of Tory members to Liz Truss. It is widely expected that he will stand again now
Speaking of Mr Johnson, he has emerged as one of the favourites in what would be a fairly bizarre turn of events. The Prime Minister who was dumped out of office by his own MPs after a series of scandals in July, is believed to consider it a matter of 'national interest' that he now returns to the top job.
While he is yet to formally declare, Mr Johnson's unofficial campaign received a big boost today. Ruling himself out of any race, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said he was "leaning towards" backing the former Prime Minister. Mr Wallace, a popular figure with Tory MPs and members, did however say that Mr Johnson still had questions to answer over his previous conduct.
The other name being mentioned is Penny Mordaunt. Ms Mordaunt, the current Leader of the House of Commons, came third, behind Mr Sunak and Ms Truss.
It was a strong performance from the former Defence Secretary and she is being tipped for another run at the top job. It remains to be seen whether she will get the required backing of MPs to get through to a final vote.
According to betting company Ladbrokes, Boris Johnson has leapfrogged Penny Mordaunt in the race and is closing in on Rishi Sunak. The company has current odds for Mr Sunak at 8/11 to be the next Prime Minister, with Mr Johnson on 15/8 and Ms Mordaunt back on 9/2.
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