Contenders to replace UK’s Truss

Conservative MPs have started to call for Prime Minister Liz Truss to step down after her package of unfunded tax cuts triggered a market sell-off and hammered her party in opinion polls


1 2 3 4 5

1 Jeremy Hunt: Fifth chancellor in just three years after PM Truss sacked predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng.
Has previously served as foreign secretary, health secretary and culture secretary

2 Rishi Sunak: Former chancellor accused his rival Truss in Tory leadership contest of “fairytale economics.”
Warned that Truss’s unfunded tax-cutting plans would send economy into freefall

3 Penny Mordaunt: Leader of Commons and former defence secretary finished in third place in leadership race before she backed Truss
 
4 Ben Wallace: Seen by worried MPs as Cabinet’s only competent minister. Defence secretary did not take part in leadership race

5 Boris Johnson: In his farewell address as prime minister, Johnson fuelled speculation about future return to frontline politics
 

Labour party lead over Conservatives (polling averages to October 15)

Labour 50.0%
Conservatives 24.6%
10.2% Liberal Democrats

Labour are 25.4% ahead of Tories
 

Sources: Politics.co.uk, Reuters, Sky News 
Pictures: Getty Images 
© GRAPHIC NEWS