Boris Johnson has quit, so who’s in for the Tory leadership?

London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned and will leave his post as soon as his Conservative Party elects a new leader.

The process could take about six weeks, depending on how many players officially put themselves forward. In 2019, it took several rounds of voting for Conservative MPs to whittle down a field of 10 to just two. Tory members across the country were then asked to choose between Jeremy Hunt and Johnson. The rest is history.

Who would be in the running this time? Below is a list of the most likely contenders and possible wildcards.

A man puts out a chalkboard with the betting odds for who will replace Boris Johnson as prime minister.Credit: AP

Rishi Sunak has enjoyed a meteoric rise through Tory ranks, joining the junior ministry in 2018 only to be elevated to chancellor of the exchequer (the Australian equivalent of treasurer), one of the four Great Offices of State, two years later aged 39. He resigned this week.

Like Boris, Sunak is on a first-name basis with the public thanks to pandemic income support that gave workers 80 per cent of their wages and the Eat Out to Help Out scheme that gave diners £10 off their bills. However, he was also fined for breaching lockdown regulations at a Downing Street party.

If Sunak were to become prime minister, he would be the first British leader since Benjamin Disraeli to come from a non Anglo-Celtic background. Sunak was born in Southampton, England, to Indian Punjabi Hindu parents – his doctor father was originally from Kenya and his pharmacist mother was born in Tanzania.

Rishi Sunak resigned as chancellor of the exchequer this week.Credit: Getty

This, combined with the tone struck during the pandemic – he spoke of the government providing a support-and-safety net for the entire society – is why many MPs, particularly those in previously Labour-held “red wall” seats believe he could win the Conservatives an unprecedented fifth term.

But expect his wealth to come into focus. Before politics, Sunak was an investment banker, hedge funder and entrepreneur working in Silicon Valley. His wife is the daughter of Indian billionaire Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, the founder of IT company Infosys.

While this is appealing to Conservatives and a story of a fortune built on enterprise, Sunak’s wealth would make him a ripe target for Labour who would seek to cast him as out of touch with everyday concerns and realities.

Penny Mordaunt is respected and well liked by Conservatives and one to watch. She was the nation’s first female defence secretary before Johnson sacked her shortly after becoming prime minister for backing a rival.

There will be a desire from many to ensure that the leadership is not simply a fait accompli for the more assured Sunak, and her pro-Brexit credentials could win her favour within the party.

Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Liz Truss, the foreign secretary who memorably appointed Tony Abbott to the Board of Trade, was considered a top candidate when Johnson faced a no-confidence vote in June.

Truss has been in Parliament since 2010, when David Cameron ended Labour’s 13-year rule. She has served in the cabinets of all three prime ministers, earning her stayer reputation.

Despite campaigning for Britain to remain in the EU, she is popular with Conservative Party members for striking post-Brexit trade deals including with countries like the US, China and Australia.

Truss was promoted to foreign secretary despite thin achievements and has fashioned herself as a patriot and freedom-lover. She is the closest to Boris in appealing to the working-class, Brexit-voting and England-loving sort of Tory that Sunak’s mega-wealth could turn off.

Former health secretary Sajid Javid was one of the high-profile resignations that prompted Johnson’s exit.Credit: EPA

Sajid Javid contested the last leadership challenge in 2019 but was eliminated in the fourth round of MP voting. Like Sunak, he would also be vying to become the first modern prime minister from a minority background having already become the first British-Asian to occupy one of the Great Offices of State.

The health and social secretary – until he resigned this week – Javid was born in Britain to Pakistani parents. He began investing in shares at the age of 14 and made a career in banking, becoming managing director of Deutsche Bank.

Like Truss, he entered the Commons in 2010 and six years later was set to launch a joint-leadership ticket with another MP who had to withdraw after a suggestive text emerged. Could he be third time lucky?

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.Credit: Getty Images

Ben Wallace has impressed colleagues and the public as Britain’s straight-talking, no-nonsense defence secretary.

Britain’s supply of weapons for the Ukrainian war effort has no doubt improved his stocks, as did his department’s management of evacuations from Afghanistan when the Taliban took over.

He has previously denied any interest in becoming prime minister, but has a wealth of experience having sat in parliament since 2005 and in Scotland’s devolved assembly before that.

Nadhim Zahawi was loyal until a minute to midnight when he told Boris JOhnson he had to go.Credit: AP

Nadhim Zahawi is another to keep an eye on. Zahawi has been quietly impressing colleagues in his various roles as education secretary and taking on the vaccine rollout. He was elevated to chancellor of the exchequer this week after Sunak resigned.

Not only is Nadhim a strong media performer, he has a true rags-to-riches story. He was born in Baghdad to Kurdish parents, is one of nine sons, the family fled Saddam Hussein’s early reign. In the UK he co-founded political research firm YouGov. He joined parliament the same year as Truss and Javid.

Tom Tugendhat has long been on the outer of Johnson’s government. He has fashioned himself as an early critic of Johnson in his role as chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Always harbouring ambition, 2022 could be the year the critic attempts a go at the ropes. He has called for Britain to take a stronger policy position against China.

Jeremy Hunt was the finalist against Boris Johnson in 2019. However, Hunt, a former foreign as well as health secretary, is widely perceived as yesterday’s man.

Michael Gove, the intellectual powerhouse of the Conservative government who headed Vote Leave, ruled himself out of a leadership context back in June.

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