Boris Johnson’s time is finally up as prime minister. And we want to know - who do you think should be the next Tory leader?
Johnson is set to step down after a fatal onslaught of resignations in protest over his leadership.
New education secretary Michelle Donelan became the fifth Cabinet minister to tender their resignation after accepting the role on Tuesday night, with Mr Johnson’s new chancellor Nadhim Zahawi also publicly urged him to “do the right thing and go now”.
The slew of resignations continued on Thursday morning, as David TC Davies, the parliamentary under-secretary for Wales, claimed publicly to have effectively turned down the department’s Cabinet role, vacated by Simon Hart last night.
The collapse in Cabinet support came after it emerged Mr Johnson promoted Tory MP Chris Pincher despite knowledge of misconduct claims against him.
But an ally of Mr Johnson claimed on Wednesday night he had vowed to “fight on”, as the PM sacked housing secretary Michael Gove for calling on him to step down. Attorney general Suella Braverman did the same, also revealing ambitions to replace him as PM – but remains in post.
The resignations follow the Conservative’s double defeat at the by-elections in June, after which former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard called on Mr Johnson to resign and urged cabinet ministers to consider moving against him if he clings on at No 10.
Shortly after the party, lost by-elections in Wakefield and Tiverton & Honiton Oliver Dowden quit his role as Tory Party chair because he couldn’t “go on defending the indefensible”, a senior Tory suggested.
The PM insisted that he would “keep going” at No 10 despite the crushing double by-election losses.
In June, Mr Johnson survived a no-confidence vote, narrowly winning the ballot by 211 to 148 votes.
We want to know who you think his successor should be.
Names in the mix include Jeremy Hunt, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Ben Wallace, Nadhim Zahawi and Sajid Javid.
This poll is now closed. You can see the results here. Keep an eye out for more reader polls coming soon.
If you selected ‘other’, ‘don’t know’ or ‘don’t care’, let us know in the comments why.
