Who’d want to lead the Tories after electoral wipeout? And the nominees are…

If the Westminster whispers are true, a clutch of Conservative big beasts are busy positioning themselves to take over from Rishi Sunak, says John Rentoul. But might the prime minister defy his critics and – for the sake of his broken party – ‘do a Michael Howard’ and stay on in opposition?

Tory leading lights – including (clockwise from left) Penny Mordaunt, Suella Braverman, Kemi Badenoch, Grant Shapps and Priti Patel – are all said to be on manoeuvres (Getty)

Mark Littlewood, who fronts “PopCon” – the right-wing Popular Conservatives which launched themselves, with some fanfare, in February – reportedly thinks that the former home secretary Priti Patel should be the “Truss-style libertarian” candidate in the race to be the next Tory leader.

They just cannot help themselves, can they?

Patel would like to be leader, so she doesn’t want to discourage think-tankers and Conservative MPs from talking up her chances. Several MPs who would like to be leader have adopted the same posture – of cultivating fellow MPs and spending a lot of time talking to local Tory associations without ever explicitly mentioning that there might be a leadership election soon.