1922 Committee member Nigel Evans has called for a change to the leadership contest rules to prevent career politicians succeeding. He explained that the reason there are so many candidates to replace Theresa May could be because MPs see it as an opportunity to position themselves for a cabinet role. He insisted that some MPs may be hoping to drop out of the leadership contest early to promote another candidate in hopes of being rewarded for their support.

Mr Evans told ITV: “I suspect what is happening is someone puts their name into the Prime Minister hat, not with any expectation that they have got a lot of support.

“But that they are able to pull out before the first ballot or just after.

“Then support a candidate that they think is going to win who will offer them a cabinet job.

“Well, really I think that is an abuse of the rules and surely is something that we really need to look at and tidy it up.

“If you are putting your name forward to be the next leader of the Conservative party and therefore the next Prime Minister.

“I think you should display atlas that you have got quite a lot of public support before you are allowed to get into that ballot.”

The current list of Prime Minister hopefuls includes Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Andrea Leadsom, Dominic Raab, Jeremy Hunt, Rory Stewart, James Cleverly, Sajid Javid, Matthew Hancock, Esther McVey and Kit Malthouse.

Each candidate has come under scrutiny for their past actions and statements most notably Boris Johnson who has been summoned to court after an accusation of lying during the referendum Leave campaign.

Rory Stewart has also publicly apologised to the public after it surfaced that he had once smoked opium while travelling in Iran.

Due to Theresa May’s Remainer status as Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has been strongly supported by Brexiteers who want someone who believes in Brexit to lead the country.

The next Prime Minister will have the task of implementing Brexit and ensuring the UK leaves the EU with or without a deal on October 31. 

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