Why would you stand for the Tory leadership? If you’re someone like Dominic Raab, Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt, you’ve been planning this for months, with a team in place since at least the start of the year because you really think you can win this. But there are other entrants who are highly unlikely to get anywhere near the final two but are still standing.
Some of these MPs may think they genuinely have an outside chance, but others have made a variety of calculations. Rory Stewart, for instance, is building a proper profile for himself as someone unafraid to walk around in public asking people what they think (which is rare for politicians today). This will set him in good stead for another leadership contest. He might not have to wait that long: the odds are so stacked against the next Prime Minister that they might find they have the shortest tenure in history.
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