UK Prime Minister Theresa May will face a vote of confidence in her leadership among Conservative MPs later. Sputnik looks at who would be in the running to succeed her if she loses the crucial vote.
« I will contest that vote with everything I have got, » said Mrs. May on Wednesday, December 12.
If she loses she will not be able to stand in a leadership contest and will be a lame duck prime minister until the new leader takes over next month.
Who is best placed to take over?
The betting favourite (odds as short as 7-2 with online gambling website Bet365) is the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
Boris Johnson stabbed his old Etonian friend David Cameron in the back in 2016 by deciding at the last minute to back the Leave campaign ahead of the Brexit referendum.
He then stood for the leadership after Cameron resigned in the wake of the referendum vote but dramatically quit the race after his ally Michael Gove suddenly turned on him and publicly doubted his credentials.
Despite all that he remains popular with grassroots Conservative Party members and his reputation with them was not necessarily tarnished by his spell as Foreign Secretary despite a string of gaffes.
Johnson, 54, eventually resigned from the Cabinet in September this year
« We are truly headed for the status of a colony — and many will struggle to see the economic or political advantage of that particular arrangement, » he said in a resignation letter calculated to damage May and her Brexit negotiations.
If he were to be elected as leader and become the prime minister Johnson would have to use all of his legendary charm to persuade EU leaders to change their stance on the Northern Ireland backstop at the last minute.
Raab, 44, was a relatively unknown backbencher until he was appointed as Secretary for Exiting the European Union in July following the resignation of David Davis.
Mrs. May hoped he would be able to drive through a compromise with the EU after Davis’ prickly personality and Leave stance failed to endear him to chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.
Raab’s constituency, Esher and Walton in Surrey voted 58.4 percent to 41.6 percent to remain in the European Union but he has not let that stop him speak out in favour of Brexit.
He was heavily involved in drafting the 585-page document which was finally agreed by May’s Cabinet last month.
But the following day he quit, saying the deal had « two major and fatal flaws. »
« The first is that the terms being offered by the EU threaten the integrity of the United Kingdom and the second is that they would lead to an indefinite if not permanent situation where we’re locked into a regime with no say over the rules being applied, with no exit mechanism, » Raab said.
His position has suddenly made him a key contender for the top job, despite his lack of experience and his apparent flip-flopping.
Javid — who replaced Amber Rudd as Home Secretary in April in the aftermath of the Windrush scandal — has been quiet on Brexit and kept his powder dry.
