Some MPs believe the third potential candidate, Penny Mordaunt, who was the first to declare publicly that she’s running, is a much more credible unity candidate than Mr Sunak or Mr Johnson, who are both loathed by the rival camps.
But so far, she’s in third place in pledges of support from MPs and may struggle to get 100 nominations, and so it’s looking like a Sunak-Johnson battle for the Tory crown at the moment.
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Mr Johnson, currently on holiday in the sun-kissed Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, claims he can save the Tories from an election wipe-out. He would, wouldn’t he?
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Defence secretary ‘leaning towards Boris Johnson’.
But can he? BoJo is box office and his supporters point to his 2019 general election victory, when the Conservatives won a majority of 80, as evidence that he’s a vote winner.
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And he’s still the darling of the party activists. A YouGov poll this week suggested he’d be backed by 33% of members, ahead of Mr Sunak with just 23%.
So if he reaches the 100 nominations required to get on the ballot paper and makes it to the final two voted on by the members, he’d be the firm favourite to win.
But it’s by no means certain that he’ll make it to 100 backers. The only candidate who can confidently expect to reach 100 nominations is Mr Sunak.
Mr Johnson is a massively divisive figure. Some Tory MPs are horrified at the prospect of a BoJo comeback and are even threatening to quit the party if he wins.
Remember, after the three Ps – Paterson, Partygate and Pincher – 59 ministers resigned and 148 Conservative MPs voted against him in a confidence vote.
Opinion polls suggest he’s so discredited by scandals and sleaze that he’s lost his touch, despite what his loyal supporters claim.
Image: The expected timeline of events in electing a new PM
Whoever succeeds Liz Truss faces a nightmare in-tray. Will Jeremy Hunt’s Halloween rescue plan for the economy go ahead? No. 10 says that’s up to the new PM.
Will the new PM go ahead with the spending cuts and tax increases Mr Hunt is planning? Mr Johnson, after all, was a big-spending prime minister.
Will Mr Hunt even still be chancellor this time next week? If you thought Kwasi Kwarteng’s 38 days in the Treasury was brief, Mr Hunt could be out after just a fortnight!
The opposition parties, obviously, want a general election with polls pointing to a Tory wipeout. But in a contest that’s potentially a three-horse race a general election is a non-runner, whoever wins the Tory crown.
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
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Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
Image: US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indianand Israelirepresentatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Image: Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Image: The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.