Who some of Nottinghamshire Conservative MPs are backing as next Prime Minister

It follows the resignation of current Prime Minister Liz Truss after four weeks of chaos that unravelled following the announcement of the ‘mini-budget’ on September 23.

Ms Truss announced she is stepping down from the position during a short speech in Downing Street on Thursday.

The party has since revealed a new leader and Prime Minister will be announced on Friday, October 28.

Rishi Sunak, who lost to Ms Truss in the summer leadership contest, is the bookies’ favourite to take over the role.

Penny Mordaunt, the current leader of the House of Commons, is the first to put herself forward as a potential candidate.

And, quite dramatically, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also being touted for a shocking return to front-line politics just months after he was ousted by his own party.

Tom Randall, Conservative MP for Gedling, backed Mr Sunak in the summer contest but says he has not made his mind up over who he will back this time around.

The choice, he says, is between Mr Johnson and the former chancellor, but he is taking time to “weigh up” before deciding who to back.

On what he wants to see from the next Prime Minister, he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “People want their politicians to get on with doing the things that they were elected to do: helping their constituents and trying to solve their problems.

“I want to see the return of firm, effective Tory government in short order.”

Coun Ben Bradley, Conservative MP for Mansfield and leader of Nottinghamshire Council, said he, too, has not yet made up his mind.

He is asking constituents to fill in a survey, asking who they would like to see as the new leader and Prime Minister.

He said: “I want to ensure we can choose someone who has Mansfield’s support.”

Robert Jenrick, Newark’s Tory MP, has however confirmed he is backing Mr Sunak for the leadership.

He backed the former chancellor in the summer and, posting on Twitter on Friday, he said: “I’m backing Rishi Sunak to be our Prime Minister.

“Rishi will restore public confidence in our party and market confidence in our economy.

“He will unite the Conservatives and lead our country with integrity, judgement and competence.”

But Brendan Clarke-Smith, Bassetlaw’s Conservative MP, has come out in support of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Mr Clarke-Smith said: “There are a lot of people calling for him to come back and I don’t think people in Westminster realise the groundswell of support that’s there in the rest of the country.

“They say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone sometimes and I think this is the time for him to come back.”

Darren Henry, Tory MP for Broxtowe, Ashfield’s Conservative MP Lee Anderson, Sherwood MP Mark Spencer and Ruth Edwards, Conservative MP for Rushcliffe, are yet to announce who they are supporting.

However, the Rushcliffe MP revealed yesterday she had submitted a letter of no confidence in Ms Truss and said the outgoing Prime Minister had done the ‘right thing’ by resigning.

Candidates will need to garner the support of at least 100 Tory MPs by Monday afternoon to be in the leadership race.

A ballot of roughly 200,000 Conservative Party members is then expected to take place next week, with Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the influential Tory backbench 1922 Committee, to announce the winner next week.