Lucy Devine
Trade minister Penny Mordaunt is favourite to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister following the announcement of his resignation today (7 July).
Bookies at Sky Bet and Coral have odds of 4/1 on the former defence secretary to take over as the next Tory leader. While not currently in cabinet, the Portsmouth North MP has eight years of ministerial experience.
Mordaunt also came in second place in a poll of Tory activists, when asked who should be the next leader of the Conservative party after Boris Johnson.
In the survey, Mordaunt narrowly missed out on the top spot to Ben Wallace, who received 119 votes compared to Mordaunt's 117.
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When asked for her opinion on Johnson, she said: "While these serious events play out some of us do need to keep things running. That (is) what I am doing, and that is how I can best help."
It was announced earlier today that Johnson will resign as prime minister.
The decision comes after more than 50 Tory MPs have resigned over the last few days, including Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid.
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The resignations comes after it was confirmed that Johnson was previously made aware of an investigation into inappropriate behaviour from Conservative MP Chris Pincher back in 2019.
Pincher resigned last week after he was accused of groping two men, and it later emerged that he had previously been investigated over his conduct three years back.
Number 10 had initially denied that Johnson knew about the claims, but a spokesperson later confirmed that Johnson had been briefed on the complaint in 2019.
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The spokesperson added: "I would add a caveat at least that this was related to a conversation, and what I believe to have been a brief conversation, that took place around three years ago."
Earlier in the week, Johnson apologised for appointing Chris Pincher deputy chief whip, saying it ‘was a mistake’ and admitted that ‘in hindsight the wrong thing to do’.
He said: "The complaint was cleared up, he apologised. It was raised with me, I was briefed on what had happened and if I had my time again I'd think back on it and I'd realise he wasn't going to learn a lesson and he wasn't going to change."
Johnson’s resignation comes after Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid also announced their resignations earlier in the week.