UK politics live: Sunak, Johnson and Mordaunt attract early backing for new PM as Tory leadership race begins

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So here we are again. Less than two months after Conservative party members chose Liz Truss to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister, the party’s MPs – and, in some way, the members again – will select a successor to Truss in an accelerated week-long contest. Here are some of the contenders who could stand. They have all either indicated they may stand, or at least not ruled it out.

So, could there be a general election?

In short, to the consternation of the opposition, and despite the government cycling through four chancellors, three home secretaries, and now three prime ministers this year: no. The next election is likely to be at the start of 2025, and changing that timeline is very hard to do.

Because the UK is a parliamentary democracy, elections are for individual local candidates – not prime ministers. So, in theory, the constant hokey-cokey of the last nine months has no bearing on the mandate of the particular MPs in place, and the only way to force an election is for a majority of the House of Commons to back a vote of no confidence.

As things stand, 40 Tory backbenchers would have to vote for an election that they would have every chance of losing, given Labour’s 30 point lead in the polls. If whoever the next prime minister is also fails, some of them might be despairing and exhausted and embarrassed enough to do so – but even then, and however dysfunctional it might seem, it’s a tall order.

After spending Liz Truss’s premiership keeping an extremely low profile, Rishi Sunak is firmly back on the scene this morning, with several MPs declaring their support in a coordinated social media push last night.

Sunak’s deepest appeal to MPs is his promise of absolution: if you think the voters’ distaste for Boris Johnson is only outdone by their disgust at everything that has happened since, Sunak allows you to rewind the clock, but not too far.

Among the MPs who voiced their support for Sunak on Twitter were Simon Hart, Helen Whately, Huw Merriman and Nick Gibb.

Hart said that this was “no time for experiments; no time for frivolity…this means choosing someone serious, tested, competent and kind.”

While Sunak beats the other plausible candidates, apart from Johnson, in recent membership polls, it is easy to see the former PM’s hardcore in the rank and file coalescing around Penny Mordaunt instead. So Sunak would certainly rather have the race sewn up early. But given the deep divides in the party over economic policy, as well as whether he should be held personally responsible for Johnson’s demise, any impression of unity is likely to be only a superficial effect.

Former culture secretary and current member for Mid Bedfordshire Nadine Dorries was among those who voiced support for Boris Johnson on Thursday, both on television and on Twitter, where she said, “One person was elected by the British public with a manifesto and a mandate until January 25”:

Member for West Cornwall Derek Thomas tweeted in support of Mordaunt, who he said had been his first choice when he supported Truss:

As people in the UK wake up knowing they will soon have their 5th Conservative prime minister in six years – or their third in just eight weeks – the race is on to discover who the winner of a fresh leadership contest will be. The lettuce, as far as we know, is not running.

My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be taking you through the latest in British politics for the next while. You can get in touch with questions or comments on Twitter here.

On Thursday night, MPs were tweeting their support for various candidates ahead of a ballot on Monday afternoon. No candidates have declared publicly yet that they are running, though Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt have ruled themselves out.

More on the likely candidates shortly. In the meantime, Here is where things stood on Thursday evening:

Liz Truss resigned as prime minister after just 45 days in office. Truss will be the shortest-serving prime minister in UK history. She said: “I recognise though given the situation I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative party.”

Nominations for the next PM opened on Thursday night and will close at 2pm on Monday. Candidates will need a minimum of 100 nominations to proceed to the ballot. There will be an indicative vote of MPs once there are two candidates.

The first ballot of MPs will be held between 3.30pm and 5.30pm on Monday. If there are three candidates, the candidate with the fewest number of votes will be eliminated.

The result will be announced at 6pm on Monday. If a second vote is needed (indicative), this will be held between 6.30-8.30pm on Monday. The result will be announced at 9pm.

If there are two candidates, the Tory membership will get to vote again and a winner will be picked by Friday.

Labour leader Keir Starmer said his party has a manifesto “ready to go” if there is an early election. He told the BBC if the Tories were to replace Liz Truss with Boris Johnson it would make the case for an early election even stronger. The Liberal Democrats say the Conservative party should block Boris Johnson from standing again.

A senior MP in Rishi Sunak’s previous leadership campaign said they expect him to stand again, according to the Guardian’s Jessica Elgot.

Kemi Badenoch and Penny Mordaunt are also expected to stand as leadership candidates.