Boris Johnson confidence vote: Who are likely candidates to be next Prime Minister

Since replacing Theresa May, Mr Johnson won a general election in 2019, but now faces a vote of confidence from his own MPs in the wake of Partygate.

Members of the Conservative Parliamentary Party are due to cast votes in a secret ballot between 6pm and 8pm.

Mr Johnson could win the vote and continue, but he still may take the decision to resign if he feels his position has become untenable.

However if he did lose, this would trigger a leadership contest.

Here are some of the possible candidates:

Liz Truss

Currently Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss has been high on the list of possible future PMs for the last few years. Elected in 2010, she has been a cabinet minister under David Cameron, Theresa May and now Mr Johnson. She is said to be popular at grassroots level and has been tasked with dealing with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and negotiating changes to the Brexit agreement in order to resolve the impasse over Northern Ireland.

Jeremy Hunt

Mr Hunt is one of the outsiders currently looking in on government, having previously served as health secretary for six years before moving to the Foreign Office. He came second when Mr Johnson was elected Conservative leader in 2019 and turned down a post in the new government, deciding instead to return to the backbenches.

Tom Tugendhat

He is a relatively new MP, having been elected in 2015 following spells in the Territorial Army and British Army, with service in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has been chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee since 2017, and in January said he would consider putting himself forward if a leadership contest was triggered.

Penny Mordaunt

The current minister for trade policy, she was previously local government minister, Armed Forces minister, International Development Secretary and then briefly Defence Secretary. She is a Royal Navy reservist. In the 1990s she she served as Head of Youth for the Conservative Party under John Major, before working for two years as Head of Broadcasting for party leader William Hague.

Ben Wallace

Mr Wallace was an officer in the Scots Guards before becoming a Member of the Scottish Parliament. First elected as an MP in 2005, he was a minister for Northern Ireland under David Cameron and then security and economic crime minister for Theresa May. Then when Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, he was named Defence Secretary.

Priti Patel

She was sacked by Theresa May as International Development Secretary for having meetings in Israel without telling the Foreign Secretary. During her tenure at the Home Office plans have been developed to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. An inquiry into bullying found Ms Patel had broken the code governing ministers' behaviour, but Mr Johnson rejected the findings.

Rishi Sunak

The Chancellor was hotly-tipped to succeed Mr Johnson following his popularity bounce during the early stages of the pandemic, buoyed by the ‘eat out to help out’ campaign, but the cost of living crisis and revelations about his wife’s tax status have put dints in his reputation.

Nadhim Zahawi

Praised for his handling of the vaccine rollout, he succeeded Gavin Williamson as Education Secretary.