Will Rishi Sunak be prime minister by teatime? After Boris Johnson announced that he would not enter the contest after all, the chances of a coronation have risen. Penny Mordaunt has 25 MPs publicly backing her – a long way short of the 100 required to make it onto the ballot. However, she still has an opportunity to get there.
Will Boris Johnson’s backers row in behind Mordaunt?
Boris Johnson has somewhere in the region of 60 public supporters to play for (and more still if you go by his own figure of 102 backers). There are also just over 100 MPs yet to back anyone. That means there is a path to Mordaunt entering the contest. If she does secure the support of enough MPs, there would be an indicative vote to show how the two fared against one another before going to the membership for an online vote. If Mordaunt doesn’t drop out, there could be a public hustings on Wednesday evening.
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