Rishi Sunak has quit as prime minister after his Conservative Party was handed a crushing defeat in the 2024 General Election.
While he hung on as an MP and kept his seat in Richmond and Northallerton with an almost 13,000 vote majority, he has apologised for his role in the Tory election failure and stood down as leader of the party.
Keir Starmer is our new prime minister, after being reelected in Holborn and St Pancras and leading Labour to a massive majority.
Follow the latest news on the 2024 General Election on Metro.co.uk‘s live blog
But who will be the new leader of the Conservatives?
While much of the attention in the coming days will focus on Labour as Starmer moves into Downing Street and announces his cabinet, meanwhile the Tories will be licking their wounds before voting to decide who will become their next leader.
The Tories are the second-biggest party in government, currently at 120 seats with only a couple still to declare, meaning they’ll swap sides in the House of Commons and become the official opposition to the new Labour government.
Whoever becomes the new Conservative leader will be in charge of challenging Starmer and Labour’s policy decisions, including at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) every Wednesday.
It’s not been that long since the last Tory leadership race in September 2022, when Liz Truss won before stepping down just weeks in. Sunak, who came in second place, was then rushed into the PM’s job.
While some of the contenders in 2022 have lost their seats – including Penny Mordaunt – there are still some familiar names popping up as the Conservatives begin to ponder their future.
Several pollsters and betting companies have started to put odds on who is most likely to become the next leader of the Conservatives.
Some of the names popping up, however, are not eligible to become the party leader.
David Cameron, for example, has been given 14/1 odds by Paddy Power despite not being a sitting MP and therefore not eligible.
Boris Johnson, with the same odds, is also not eligible for the same reason, and Nigel Farage at 17/2 couldn’t become leader of the Tories unless he immediately defected from Reform UK to join the party.
A list of politicians who are actually eligible to become party leader, and their odds of doing so, is below.
Kemi Badenoch has been given a variety of odds from different bookies, including 9/4 from Paddy Power, William Hill and Betfair, 5/2 from Betfred and Coral.
Tom Tugendhat has been given 7/2 odds of becoming the next Tory leader fairly consistently across the board, from Paddy Power, Betfair, Betvictor, Ladbrokes, Betfred and BoyleSports.
Former home secretary Priti Patel has a 11/2 chance of being the next Conservative leader according to bet365.
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt also has 15/2 odds from Paddy Power and Betfair, and 13/2 from Unibet and BetMGM.
Robert Jenrick has 13/2 odds of becoming the next Tory leader according to Unibet, BetMGM, BetUK and Betway.
Another former Home Secretary, Suella Braverman has 15/2 odds from Paddy Power and Betfair, and 13/2 odds from Unibet and BetMGM.
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