British Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that she is quitting , triggering a contest that will bring a new leader to power, with most of the frontrunners expected to push for a cleaner break with the European Union.
Below are some Conservative lawmakers who have said they are running and what they have said about Brexit. They are arranged in the order listed by odds checker, a website that compiles bookmakers' odds.
Boris Johnson, 54
The bookmakers’ clear favourite was the face of the official campaign to leave the European Union. The former London mayor resigned as the Foreign Minister in July 2018 in protest at May's handling of the exit negotiations.
On Brexit: Last week Johnson said Britain would leave the EU on October 31 “deal or no deal” adding that a second referendum on EU membership would be a “very bad idea” and divisive.
In a newspaper column on Monday, he said, “No one sensible would aim exclusively for a no-deal outcome. No one responsible would take no-deal off the table.”
“If we are courageous and optimistic, we can strike a good bargain with our friends across the Channel, come out well and on time by October 31 and start delivering on all the hopes and ambitions of the people.”
Johnson was educated at Eton College and Oxford University.
Michael Gove, 51
Gove, one of the highest-profile Brexit campaigners during the 2016 referendum, scuppered Johnson’s 2016 leadership bid by withdrawing his support at the last moment to run himself.
Seen as one of the most effective members of May's cabinet, Gove, as May's Environment Minister, backed her Brexit strategy.
On Brexit: Gove said he believed he could unite the party and deliver Brexit. He said he would set out his Brexit plans in more detail at a formal leadership launch, but told the BBC : “In government and in this job I have got to grips with preparing for a no-deal, it is a possible outcome...We would be able to get through it but it is ultimately better for all of us if we secure a deal and leave in an orderly way.”
“We must leave the EU before we have an election,” Gove said on Twitter, saying Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn could end up as Prime Minister with support from Scottish nationalists.
Gove, who was adopted as a child, was educated at Oxford University.
Andrea Leadsom, 56
A pro-Brexit campaigner, Leadsom made it to the last two in the 2016 contest to replace Cameron. She withdrew after a backlash to an interview in which she said being a mother gave her more of a stake in the future of the country, seen by critics as an unfair attack on May, who has no children.
Leadsom quit as Leader of the House of Commons earlier this month, saying she did not believe the government's approach would deliver on the Brexit referendum result.
On Brexit: She told the Sunday Times that she would put significant effort into encouraging the EU to come up with a “deal that we can all live with”, but also said Britain had to leave by the end of October, with or without a deal.
Leadsom was educated at the University of Warwick before spending 25 years in banking and finance.
Dominic Raab, 45
Raab quit as May’s Brexit minister in 2018 after just five months in the job, saying her draft exit agreement did not match the promises the Conservative Party made in the 2017 election. He had held junior ministerial roles since being elected in 2010. Raab, a black belt in karate, campaigned for Brexit.
On Brexit: Raab told the BBC on Sunday that he plans to seek a “fairer deal” with Brussels, including renegotiating the customs and border plans relating to Northern Ireland. He also said he would not delay Brexit beyond October however, and was prepared to leave without a deal.
Raab said he expected that if Britain left without a deal, it would be likely get to keep around 25 billion pounds of its 39 billion pound exit payment, and the government could use that money to support businesses through Brexit.
The son of a Jewish refugee, Raab was educated at Oxford University.
Jeremy Hunt, 52
Hunt replaced Johnson as Foreign Minister in July after serving six years as Health Minister. That role made him unpopular with many voters who work in or rely on the state-run, financially stretched National Health Service.
On Brexit: A remain supporter in the 2016 referendum, Hunt now says that while he would prefer to leave the EU with a deal, he believes a no-deal exit is better than no-Brexit.
However, in an article in the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday he became the most senior figure vying to replace May to reject a threat to leave with no-deal by the end of October, saying lawmakers would block any such move.
“Any Prime Minister who promised to leave the EU by a specific date without the time to renegotiate and pass a new deal would, in effect, be committing to a general election the moment parliament tried to stop it. And trying to deliver no deal through a general election is not a solution; it is political suicide,” he wrote.
“A different deal is, therefore, the only solution and what I will pursue if I am leader. That means negotiations that take us out of the customs union while generously respecting legitimate concerns about the Irish border. Technology offers great promise with 'intelligent borders'.”
Hunt was educated at Oxford. He speaks fluent Japanese.
Rory Stewart, 46
A former diplomat who once walked 6,000 miles across Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal, Stewart was promoted to International Development Secretary this month.
Also read:Britain after May
Stewart was first elected to parliament in 2010 and backed remaining in the EU in the 2016 referendum. He opposes a “no-deal” exit and has been a vocal advocate of May's deal with Brussels.
On Brexit: He told Sky News on Sunday that he favoured a ”pragmatic, moderate Brexit”. He said he would not seek to change May's withdrawal agreement which has been rejected by parliament three times and said anyone who said they could do so by October was “deluding themselves or deluding the country”.
“We have a deal negotiated with the European Union on the Withdrawal Agreement. What I would be doing in parliament and with the British people is sorting out that political declaration and landing it so we can get out and move on.”
Stewart was educated at Eton College and Oxford University.
Justice Secretary David Gauke and Conservative Party grandee and former finance minister Ken Clarke have backed Stewart.
Sajid Javid, 49
Javid, a former banker and a champion of free markets, has served a number of cabinet roles and scores consistently well in polls of party members. A second-generation immigrant of Pakistani heritage, he has a portrait of late Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on his office wall.
On Brexit: Javid voted “Remain” in the 2016 referendum but was previously considered a eurosceptic. In a speech on May 20 he said there was little to fear from a no-deal Brexit. “You see, whatever the outcome of the EU exit, the UK will still have the capacity and the capability to protect itself.”
In response to a disastrous showing for the Conservatives in elections to the European Parliament, Javid also said the results showed that “people want us to get on with it. Not another election or referendum asking if changed their mind”.
Javid, the son of a bus driver, was educated at Exeter University.