not a betting man but these are the odds as at 6-7 July
So they favour the guy that actually ran Johnson’s leadership campaign? I despair!
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they have such short memories Geof 
It won’t be Ben Wallace.
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you’re right…
So it looks like it’ll be Truss. Lawd help us!
I think Sunak will soon be taking over, or at least I hope he does, as the alternatives are not attractive!
Whatever happened to Rory Stewart!
he had the whip removed by de Pfeffle
The only decent Tory (now independent) I would ever countenance…
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Oh dear - a very down to earth guy who seemed to talk sense - no wonder he was ousted!
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He also has a podcast…
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It is a very interesting podcast - well worth a listen
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To be honest I’m not sure if you scrape away all his good PR that’s necessarily true. Clearly I am not comparing him to Boris but just like Boris he has cultivated an image exactly as you say that has served him very well, but when you look at his voting record it’s very hit and miss. There are some good points, and some really very bad points.
I won’t go through them all, and of course the devil is in the detail so perhaps the headline is not representative of the actual vote/bill, but just a few…
Almost always voted against smoking bans
Almost always voted against a right to remain for EU nationals already in living in the UK
Generally voted against UK membership of the EU
Generally voted against laws to promote equality and human rights
Consistently voted for mass surveillance of people’s communications and activities
Generally voted for the privatisation of Royal Mail
Consistently voted against greater regulation of gambling
Consistently voted against an annual tax on the value of expensive homes (popularly known as a mansion tax )
Generally voted against a banker’s bonus tax
Consistently voted for ending financial support for some 16-19 year olds in training and further education
Almost always voted for a reduction in spending on welfare benefits
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Reminds me of Beano’s Plug.
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It’s perhaps wrong to criticise MP’s voting records too much because a lot of the time they’re told which way to vote by the party whips, if an MP continually voted based solely on their conscience then they’d be seen as a rebel, see one Jeremy Corbyn as an example.
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don’t forget a number of the points in his voting record you mention were as a Tory MP (and minister of the Crown and thus a member of the Government) under a 3 line whip which would be the expectation in much the same way that Opposition MPs are often criticised by the Govt of the day for voting against some really good and sensible legislation but then, the sneaky bastards slip in to the Bill something equally distasteful to trap the unwary…
Politics is a dirty business…
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But that just raises the question of their ethics or intelligence for being in that party in the first place.
If a political party required me to vote against laws to promote equality and human rights, for mass surveillance of people’s communications and activities, etc, I’d leave that party.
Yes, I’m with you entirely on that, I get it completely, but giving someone a punch in the face is still a punch in the face whether your boss told you to do it or not ultimately, and just like Nick Clegg and the tuition fees back in the day I don’t think that these things should be swept under the carpet, these people need to be held accountable for their decisions, whipped or no, but I do of course appreciate the nuances.
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That explains why you’d never get anywhere in politics Geof. 
Rightly or wrongly you can only effect real change by being in power.
or by being the one with the power…
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I see that Steve Baker has backed Suella Braverman. Two ex ERG chairs 