With the prospect of an early Conservative leadership election becoming increasingly more likely there has been a lot of activity in the betting. As can be seen Rishi Sunak has edged up even further to his highest level ever but he is still rated as only a 35% chance.

Behind him is the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss who of course, has topped the last few surveys of Conservativehome when party members were asked to give their thoughts on who should be the next leader.

A mover in recent days has been Jeremy Hunt, the former Health Secretary and the man who was in the final two against Boris Johnson in 2019. Then he ran an excellent campaign and had a really credible result that was a bit better than the polls were suggesting.

It is hard to see anybody else coming into favour but those of us who are old enough to remember 1990 will recall how John Major seemed to appear from nowhere to take the prize.

At the moment, of course, there is no vacancy and Johnson seems determined to hang on however much damage he does to his party.

Mike Smithson

what is clear is that the party will do better in the voting polls as soon as Boris Johnson is replaced. was each day goes by he becomes an even greater liability