Who are the favourites to be the next Tory leader?
Before the general election has even taken place, the jockeying for the Tory leadership has already begun.
The jockeying for the Tory leadership has already begun.
Before the general election has even finished, Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker again hinted at a leadership bid, telling Sky he “wouldn’t mind the chance” to lead the Conservative Party.
His comments come as Rishi Sunak warned voters against a Sir Keir Starmer "supermajority" for Labour, in an apparent defensive move to minimise Tory seat losses.
And while Sunak has hinted he would not immediately quit as Tory leader if the party loses, he would nevertheless come under huge pressure to do so. So who are the familiar faces currently favourite with bookmakers to replace Sunak, were he to stand down.
Kemi Badenoch (3/1)
Kemi Badenoch has been Sunak’s business secretary since February last year.
Popular with the Tory grassroots, she ran for the party leadership in 2022 and didn't rule out another tilt at the top job last month, saying “we will talk about leadership things after an election”.
Badenoch is also women and equalities minister and vowed to change the Equality Act to rewrite the definition of sex and allow organisations to bar transgender women from single-sex spaces.
She was recently embroiled in a row with actor David Tennant, who said at the British LGBT Awards: “Until we wake up and Kemi Badenoch doesn’t exist any more – I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up…” Badenoch accused him of being a “rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology”.
Seat: Badenoch won a 27,594 majority in Saffron Walden in 2019 and is fighting for re-election in the redrawn North West Essex seat.
Read more: Who is Kemi Badenoch? Tory minister will 'not shut up' in trans rights row with David Tennant (Evening Standard)
Dame Priti Patel (5/1)
Priti Patel served as home secretary in Boris Johnson’s cabinet between 2019 and 2022.
Also popular with the Tory grassroots, Patel is a hardliner on immigration and in April 2022 was the minister who introduced the government’s scheme to send small boat asylum seekers to Rwanda: a policy which faced multiple legal challenges before being passed into law – but which had yet to be put into action by the time Sunak called the election in May.
During her tenure, Patel was accused of bullying her staff but Johnson overruled an official conclusion that she broke the ministerial code, allowing her to stay in post.
Seat: Patel won a 24,082 majority in Witham in 2019.
Read more: Who is the real Priti Patel? (The Guardian - from 2020)
Tom Tugendhat (5/1)
Tom Tugendhat has been security minister since September 2022, when he was appointed by Liz Truss.
Like Badenoch, he stood for the party leadership that year and, when asked last week, did not rule out another run if Sunak quits following the election.
A Remainer in 2016, Tugendhat is seen as one of the more moderate leadership contenders.
Seat: Tugendhat won a 26,941 majority in Tonbridge and Malling in 2019 and is fighting for re-election in the redrawn Tonbridge seat.
Read more: On the campaign trail with Tom Tugendhat – and my dog (The Telegraph)
Penny Mordaunt (5/1)
Another moderate, Penny Mordaunt stood twice for the leadership in 2022 and ended up as House of Commons leader.
She was chosen to represent the Tories in a couple of the televised election debates – though she criticised her prime minister in one of them, saying Sunak’s decision to leave the D-Day commemorations was “completely wrong”.
She is perhaps best known for carrying the 3.6kg sword of state for a full 51 minutes at the King’s coronation last year.
Seat: Mordaunt won a 15,780 majority in Portsmouth North in 2019. But any leadership ambitions could be cut short by Friday as some polls have forecast she will be among a group of high-profile Tories who lose their seats.
Read more: Who is Penny Mordaunt ? (Evening Standard)
Nigel Farage (6/1)
Nigel Farage turned the election campaign on its head last month with his intervention announcing he was taking over as leader of Reform UK and standing for the seat of Clacton in Essex.
This was seen as a disaster for the Tories amid concerns he will split the Conservative vote. Even so, he is seen by bookmakers as a contender for the leadership.
Whether he would entertain that, with Reform competing with the Tories in the polls, is another matter. Farage has said the Conservative Party “may well be dead, this may well be the end of their journey” and that he believes “something new is going to emerge on the centre-right” of politics.
Under the rules of the Conservative Party, leadership hopefuls must be MPs, meaning Farage could – if he so wished and the party wanted him – win in Clacton then cross the floor to the Tories and stand for any future leadership vacancy.
Seat: Clacton is being defended by Tory Giles Watling. A poll last month suggested Farage is on course to win the seat.
Read more: Nigel Farage rules out joining Conservatives and says he wants nothing to do with them (Sky News)
Suella Braverman (7/1)
Suella Braverman is another former hardline home secretary seen as a contender for the leadership.
Sacked by Sunak in November last year, she became an outspoken critic of his administration and urged the party to move to the right following the disastrous local election results in May.
Seat: Braverman won a 26,086 majority in Fareham in 2019 and is fighting for re-election in the redrawn Fareham and Waterlooville seat.
Read more: Who is Suella Braverman? The UK’s courter of controversy who thirsts for Tory leadership (The Guardian - from 2023)
Your guide to voting
The leaders
Who is Rishi Sunak? The PM battling to stay in power after election gamble
Who is Keir Starmer? The toolmaker's son promising change for the UK
Who is Ed Davey? Lib Dem leader attracting attention with election stunts
Who is Nigel Farage? The divisive figure stealing votes from the Tories
