Rishi Sunak’s resignation from government alongside Sajid Javid on 5 July triggered a landslide that saw more than 50 Conservative ministers follow suit over a chaotic 40-hour period that finally brought an end to Boris Johnson’s scandal-plagued premiership.
With the prime minister on the way out, the former chancellor, 42, initially found himself leading the parliamentary leg of the contest to replace him but has swiftly fell behind foreign secretary Liz Truss as soon as it became a straight two-horse race, at least according to the pollsters.
