As a huge number of candidates consider whether to mount a challenge, current and former cabinet ministers known to be gathering support include Suella Braverman, Jeremy Hunt, Sajid Javid, Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss and Nadhim Zahawi. Grant Shapps is also considering putting himself forward. But Michael Gove and Dominic Raab have ruled themselves out of the running, along with prominent backbencher Tobias Ellwood. A survey by JL Partners, a polling firm, shows Sunak, the chancellor who resigned from Johnson’s government this week, is leading with the public outside the main candidates and the only one slightly ahead of Labour’s Keir Starmer. a straight forward question. It shows him with a one-point lead over Starmer when asked who would make the best prime minister and ahead of all his main rivals when asked directly who should be leader. Javid is in second place. The poll of 2,000 people was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday. Rishi Sunak, a right-wing Eurosceptic, even has some support from the One Nation group of MPs. Photo: Reuters Sunak’s popularity plummeted among Tory members after outrage over his wife’s tax-free status, but he has regained some of his standing after being one of the first two ministers to quit, along with Javid. One Tory MP said they suspected he would want to launch a campaign with many well-known MPs and a slick business, but only if they believed he had enough support. Another MP from the party’s One Nation group said they backed Sunak, a Eurosceptic and right-winger, “purely on the basis that he is clearly the most capable”. Wallace, the defense secretary, has not indicated whether he is interested in standing and does not appear to have a well-advanced campaign. But he became the betting favorite based on a poll of party members by ConservativeHome. He refused to rule himself out of running for prime minister on a trip to northern England on Thursday. Speaking this morning, before Johnson confirmed his resignation in Downing Street, Wallace told reporters “let’s see what the prime minister has to say” when asked if he would seek the top job. Truss, who cut short a trip to Indonesia to return to turmoil at home, said Thursday: “We need calm and unity now and to continue to govern while a new leader is found.” Suella Braverman is said to have targeted many of Liz Truss’ potential supporters while the Foreign Secretary was out of the country. Photo: Phil Noble/Reuters One of her supporters, Alec Shelbrooke, told GB News he was backing her on the grounds that she “has huge experience, she really leads the world on the foreign stage where our country is at the forefront of so many important international issues”. . But one Tory figure said Braverman, a leading Eurosceptic, was rallying many of Trus’ potential supporters while she was out of the country. Tom Tugendhat, who has the support of One Nation leader Damian Green, says the party needs a “clean start”. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Braverman, the attorney general, is also on the Eurosceptic right of the party and was also quick to reveal her intention to back, before Johnson even resigned. He told ITV’s Peston that he wanted the state to shrink in size and get rid of the “woke rubbish”. Neither Kwasi Kwarteng, the business minister, nor Priti Patel, the home minister, have yet signaled their intentions, but they may not have enough broad support for a run. Quick out of the blocks to signal interest were backbenchers Steve Baker and Tom Tugendhat, from opposite wings of the party. Tugendhat, on the One Nation side and chairman of the foreign affairs committee, has previously said he would throw his hat in the ring. On Thursday, he said the party needed a “clean start” and three of his supporters publicly declared their support, including One Nation leader Damian Green, the former first foreign secretary. Meanwhile, Baker, a leading Eurosceptic and former Brexit minister, said he was considering running for the leadership at the urging of colleagues and considering his recent appearances on ConservativeHome’s list of favored members’ candidates. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST He said that the Times Radio people are asking him to do so and that it would be “contemptuous and disrespectful” if he did not consider the expressions of support, although he said he regards the prospect with “something akin to dread”. A source close to Jake Berry, the leader of MPs’ Northern Research Group, has told PoliticsHome that he is considering running. The source said: “He appeals to people because he gets what matters. He is the only known member of the party who has actually offered policies.”
