Who succeeds Liz Truss as UK Prime Minister?

As Liz Truss resigned as the United Kingdom Prime Minister on Thursday, a new leadership contest will take place within a week.

Despite Labour Party leader, Sir Keir Starmer’s call for a general election that could bring his party into power, there are familiar and unfamiliar politicians from Conservative Party that may throw in their hats to succeed Truss who spent 45 days in office.

Graham Brady, the Conservative official responsible for the process, announced the candidates to replace Truss will need at least 100 nominations from Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs).

BBC reports that if more than one candidate meets that threshold, they will be put to the Conservative members in an online ballot, with the new PM to be announced on Friday, October 28.

Here are politicians that may contest and be the new UK PM:

Boris Johnson

Johnson is Truss’ predecessor who was forced out in July based on a series of scandals that pervaded his government.

However, his allies have submitted that Johnson could be a unity candidate who will stabilise the country’s economy.

One of his closest allies, on Thursday, said: “Socialists will destroy our economy and if you don’t understand that then I genuinely fear for our future. The only person that I think that ticks all those boxes is Boris Johnson.”

In his final speech as PM, Johnson made one of his characteristic references to ancient history when he said he would “return to his plough” like the Roman statesman Cincinnatus.

Cincinnatus was called back from his plough to return to Rome for a second term – this time as a dictator.

Rishi Sunak

Sunak is a former Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) who keenly contested against Truss.

He looks like the favourite having warned Truss about her unfunded tax cuts saying it would be disastrous for Britain. He said they would bring panic in the bond market and concern from the International Monetary Fund.

Sunak has experience in economic crisis-fighting, having guided the UK through the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also secured the most votes from MPs in the last leadership election – comfortably clearing the new threshold with 137 endorsements. Although Truss eventually won the decisive members’ vote, Sunak only lost narrowly – with 43% of the vote.

Penny Mordaunt

Mordaunt is the Leader of the House of Commons who also has the capacity to be the PM. She may have had a dress rehearsal for being PM this week, after stepping in for an absent Truss at a debate.

“The prime minister is not under a desk,” Mordaunt said on Tuesday in an occasion that appeared as much about pitching herself as it did about helping the PM.

She came third in the last leadership election, narrowly missing out on being put before the members. With 105 votes from MPs in the last election, she too is expected to clear the new threshold.

Kemi Badenoch

Badenoch, the British-Nigerian came fourth in this last leadership election by securing only 59 votes from MPs.

She is the Secretary of State for International Trade and has been consistently rated by pollsters as a favourite among Conservative grassroots members.

One of the younger MPs in the running, Badenoch quickly won the endorsement of long-serving Tory grandee Michael Gove, who praised her as the “outstanding talent” in the party.

Badenoch is from the right of the Tory party – and in her previous leadership bid suggested that the government’s climate targets might prove too costly.

Grant Shapps

Shapps emerged to be the Secretary of State for the Home Department in the last days of Truss’ government. He served as transport secretary under Boris Johnson.

He put himself forward to succeed him in the previous leadership election – only to withdraw from the race three days later, after failing to secure the requisite 20 MPs’ votes to proceed to the next round.

Reports revealed that the new threshold will likely prove too high for Shapps, but his criticism of Truss’ government from the beginning may have won him the support of more MPs than last time.

Other names in the race

Suella Braverman’s resignation as home secretary on Wednesday may have been an antecedent to a possible leadership bid. The former attorney-general has not run before – but with her hard-line stance on immigration, might look set to drag the party further to the right.

Tom Tugendhat emerged as a surprise favourite among Tory members and the wider public, despite only coming fifth in the last leadership election. After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Tugendhat was made security minister by Truss.

Ben Wallace, defence secretary and another ex-military man, was tipped to succeed Johnson in the last leadership contest – polling extremely well among Conservative members.

Former PM Theresa May has also been tipped as a possible “unity” candidate to succeed Truss. May tried to unify the warring wings of the Conservative party over Brexit, in a move that ultimately saw her replaced by Boris Johnson.