# Who wants to be Prime Minister? Resignations in Tory cabinet and Boris Johnson has resigned **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 5, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464 "2022-07-05T17:39:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/121 "2022-07-07T15:43:31Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Who are the favorites to be the next Prime Minister? This BBC article, which I found to be pretty informative about the whole process, notes this: > [@](#): > > At the moment, there is no obvious successor to Mr Johnson, but there are several potential candidates. > > Former Cabinet ministers Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid have both previously stood for leadership and may choose to do so again. > > Other possible contenders include: > > - Former Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove > - International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt > - Ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak > - Foreign Secretary Liz Truss > - Foreign Affairs Committee chair Tom Tugendhat, > - Defence Secretary Ben Wallace > - Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi > **[Tory leadership: How was the new UK prime minister chosen?](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-62068930)** > > Rishi Sunak is to be the new prime minister after winning the leadership election. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/122 "2022-07-07T15:43:32Z")
Odds keep changing and there’ve been multiple frontrunners over the last 24 hours: [https://www.oddschecker.com/politics/british-politics/next-prime-minister](https://www.oddschecker.com/politics/british-politics/next-prime-minister) ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/123 "2022-07-07T15:46:09Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Who are the favorites to be the next Prime Minister? None clear at the moment. The papers all have about ten people in the running (undeclared). Rumours that Sunak has already set up a campaign office, but I’m not sure how popular he is with tories right now. Liz Truss will try for it but honestly, if they vote her in, there’s no hope for the rest of us. Ben Wallace, Defence Secretary, has avoided most of the squabbling and scandal, and has had a prominent and successful role in the whole Ukraine thing. There’s a lot of chattering about Penny Mordaunt, who seems to have been on the right side of scandals, and is a Brexiteer (more’s the pity, but the party faithful will like her for it). She doesn’t seem mad or stupid, so there’s that. The Guardian has their own rundown of potentials. > **[Who will replace Boris Johnson? The runners and riders](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/07/who-will-replace-boris-johnson-runners-and-riders-tory-leader)** > > Analysis: ratings out of 10 of the chances of some of the likely contenders to be next Tory leader ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/124 "2022-07-07T15:50:57Z")
The Attorney General has said she will run: > **[UK attorney general Braverman wants to run for PM -ITV](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-attorney-general-braverman-wants-run-pm-itv-2022-07-06/)** > > The attorney general for England and Wales, Suella Braverman said on Wednesday that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson should resign and she would run to replace him, ITV reported. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/125 "2022-07-07T15:55:08Z")
Boris’s literature teacher at Eton saw it all coming: > [@](#): > > Consider this warning from 40 years ago: “Boris sometimes seems affronted when criticized for what amounts to a gross failure of responsibility.” > > That’s what Martin Hammond, who taught literature at Eton College, wrote in a letter to Johnson’s father, Stanley, in 1982. The now-famous note was reprinted in a 2012 biography by Andrew Gimson when Johnson was mayor of London. > > As a sign of things to come, Hammond added, “Boris really has adopted a disgracefully cavalier attitude to his classical studies.” > … > “I think,” Hammond wrote in that letter in 1982, “he honestly believes that it is churlish of us not to regard him as an exception, one who should be free of the network of obligation which binds everyone else.” > **[ANALYSIS | Defined by lies, Boris Johnson's political career has finally...](https://www.cbc.ca/news/boris-johnson-uk-resignation-lies-1.6513075)** > > Boris Johnson’s shaky relationship with the truth flowed through almost everything he did. It characterized much of his career, from his college days at the elite Eton school for boys all the way to 10 Downing Street. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/126 "2022-07-07T16:01:18Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Other possible contenders include: > > - Former Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove > - International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt > - Ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak > - Foreign Secretary Liz Truss > - Foreign Affairs Committee chair Tom Tugendhat, > - Defence Secretary Ben Wallace > - Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi Sky News is reporting that Gove isn’t running. Daily Mirror is saying that Rishi Sunak has set up a temporary leadership campaign office in a Westminster hotel. Theresa May’s recent tweet is one for the ZING! file. > ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/127 "2022-07-07T16:08:51Z")
Yes, a link to a video… you don’t see it? I do… ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/128 "2022-07-07T16:11:22Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > The latest (though I’m sure old news in ten minutes’ time) is that BoJo wants to remain in office until the fall so that he can continue to have use of Chequers, the PM’s official country house. Apparently invitations have already been sent out for his postponed wedding party later this month and he doesn’t want to cancel it. But that’s trivially easy to solve. The caretaker PM would just allow the Johnsons to continue using Chequers for the next month. Incoming PMs often allow their predecessors to stay there for a few weeks anyway; it packs them off conveniently out of the way. In the Johnsons’ case, there’s the further issue that they don’t have their own London house, as the long-suffering Marina got the house in the divorce. If that’s what it takes to evict him from No. 10 now rather than a few months hence, no one at all will object. Holding his party at Chequers as an ex-PM at the benevolence of his successor might even be considered a bit humiliating. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/129 "2022-07-07T16:25:44Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Foreign Secretary Liz Truss Most famous quote: “We import two thirds of our cheese. That. Is. A. Disgrace!” Churchillian, she ain’t. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/130 "2022-07-07T16:31:42Z")
Here’s a video summary of Boris Johnson’s misdeeds: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/0p-Ta83V7iw/maxresdefault.jpg "The life and lies of Boris Johnson") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p-Ta83V7iw) ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/131 "2022-07-07T16:33:35Z")
So is he resigning as party leader only, but remains as prime minister? Until next year sometime? Or am I misunderstanding this? Has he resigned as both maybe? ---
**Author:** ![keeganst94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/132 "2022-07-07T16:48:06Z")
Yeah, I’m a bit confused by this as well. I was under the impression that the two were essentially synonymous, that the Prime Minister served at the pleasure of the parliament, supported by the party that they lead. If they lose the support of the party, they’ve lost confidence in Parliament, and are therefore no longer Prime Minister. How would it work to have a Prime Minister who does not have the support of Parliament? Would he still be able to whip the party and bring bills to the floor? Or would he just be an ineffective lame duck, holding no real power? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/133 "2022-07-07T16:51:26Z")
Huh, and I thought his Ukraine activity would at least buy him some time. He certainly seems to have hoped so. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/134 "2022-07-07T16:54:13Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > Sky News is reporting that Gove isn’t running. He wasn’t in 2016 either, until he was and thereby scuppered BJ’s chances that time. He apparently told BJ he wasn’t running when he told him to go this time. So we shall see. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/135 "2022-07-07T17:01:18Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Huh, and I thought his Ukraine activity would at least buy him some time. He certainly seems to have hoped so. Has he actually done anything for Ukraine apart from turn up and guff about how he will support them (while being fully paid off by the Russians)? ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/136 "2022-07-07T17:07:01Z")
The U.K. has donated [lots of military equipment to Ukraine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foreign_aid_to_Ukraine_during_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War#Provided_by_sovereign_countries) and Ukrainian forces are currently being trained in the U.K. I don’t think Johnson can be criticized as lacking in support for Ukraine. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/137 "2022-07-07T17:07:18Z")
Very very glad he’s resigning, but I can’t imagine either his party or the nation will tolerate him remaining as a caretaker PM for a moment longer than necessary - certainly not until _October!_ Good Lord. Find a “safe pair of hands” to serve until the leadership election concludes; that person should agree not to be a candidate. And although the Queen remains CINC, of course, with the Kremlin hinting at further sanctions - and even possible attacks - against those who oppose it in Ukraine, there should be no leadership vacuum at 10 Downing Street as to the British nuclear deterrent. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/138 "2022-07-07T17:10:17Z")
> [@keeganst94](#): > > Yeah, I’m a bit confused by this as well. I was under the impression that the two were essentially synonymous, that the Prime Minister served at the pleasure of the parliament, supported by the party that they lead. If they lose the support of the party, they’ve lost confidence in Parliament, and are therefore no longer Prime Minister. Nope, two different things. He has lost the confidence of his party to be their leader, but that doesn’t mean that the Tory MPs will vote to bring down their own government. They may be content to let him stay on as head of the government, while the party elects a new leader, but the government as a whole still has a majority in the Commons and thus the confidence of the Commons. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/139 "2022-07-07T17:12:09Z")
Perhaps not, but it certainly looks good to the public, and that goes a long way. But I guess it goes a lot less of a way when your party isn’t behind you. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464/140 "2022-07-07T17:15:59Z")
Agreed as to letting BoJo use Chequers for his party if that gets him gone sooner, BTW. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wants-to-be-prime-minister-resignations-in-tory-cabinet-and-boris-johnson-has-resigned/967464.md?page=8)