Esther McVey puts her hat into the ring for TMay’s successor
Given the precarious a position TMay is in at the moment we have to assume that we are fairly close to a CON leadership contest when the membership will choose not just a new party leader but of course the next PM. Last week Rory Stewart announced that he would contest the leadership once a vacancy occurs and today another prominent figure, Esther McVey, has declared that she too will be amongst the contenders.
The former TV presenter, now MP for George Osborne’s old seat of Tatton, had been in the cabinet but resigned last November in protest against the Brexit deal. She was amongst a number of ministerial resignations at the time. She is known to be ambitious and as a former TV presenter is articulate and comes over well in front of the cameras. Whether that will be enough to ensure she gets into the final two in the Tory MP ballot we don’t know. As we are all aware the Tory leadership system involves the MPs producing a shortlist of 2 which then goes to the party membership.
About a year ago I took a bet at 170 to 1 on Betfair on McVey because the odds seemed attractive and a senior Tory friend of my had suggested. to me that she could run. Ladbrokes have her at 66/1. I’ve found in the past it is quite good have longshot bets on a number of potential runners.
It is very hard to see how the first stage of the contest will work out with MPs and things can change very rapidly.