The pressure is on for a caretaker PM to replace Boris Johnson – but it won’t be easy

If he wants to stay on as prime minister, asks John Rentoul, will the 1922 Committee or what is left of the cabinet stop him?

Johnson has already shown that he will try to fight until the last moment (PA)

Even before Boris Johnson confirmed his intention to resign, the question has moved on to what will happen next. Will he continue as prime minister while the Conservative Party elects a successor, or will the party insist that Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, take over as a caretaker for the next few months?

The prime minister intends to stay on until the Tory party conference in October, while Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, says the new executive to be elected by Tory MPs on Monday will set the timetable for the leadership election. Normally, the outgoing prime minister remains in office until the end of that election, but Johnson has caused such chaos and destruction at the top of government in the past few days that the pressure for him to step aside immediately is going to be powerful.

Many Tory MPs feel that every day that Johnson is allowed to remain in office will do further damage to the party’s reputation, and make the next election harder to win. George Freeman, the science minister, who has written a letter of no-confidence but who hasn’t resigned, has argued for a caretaker prime minister.