Wallace pointed out that Johnson led the conservative Tories to an overwhelming election victory in 2019. However, Wallace added that Johnson still had "some questions to answer" regarding the numerous scandals that had accompanied Johnson's tenure.

Energy and Business Secretary Rees-Mogg wrote in the short message service Twitter the slogan "

Johnson resigned in early July after an internal party revolt against his much-criticized leadership during his three years as party leader and thus also as prime minister. Truss was elected the new party leader by members of his Tory party, and by doing so automatically became head of government as well.

After only six weeks in office, she announced her resignation on Thursday as a result of massive pressure from her own party. The reason for this was massive errors in financial and tax policy, which had led to severe turbulence on the financial markets.

Mordaunt, who is a member of the cabinet as leader of the House of Commons, declared her candidacy on Friday. She stands for "a new beginning, a united party and leadership in the national interest," said the 49-year-old.

The most promising candidate, however, is ex-Finance Minister Rishi Sunak - not least because he predicted the catastrophic consequences of Truss' economic plans during the election campaign for the party chairmanship in the summer. Another possible candidate is Interior Secretary Suella Braverman, who has resigned. Treasury Secretary Jeremy Hunt ruled out running again.

Former Government Member Tim Loughton called on the four "big beasts" Sunak, Mordaunt, Hunt and Wallace to agree on a candidate so "we can return to some degree of normality".

Applicants must show the support of at least 100 of the 357 Tory MPs by Monday. This means that a maximum of three of them can actually stand for election. After that, the deputies must either agree on two candidates, which the 170,000 party members will decide on in an online vote by next Friday - or they directly choose a candidate who moves into Downing Street.

The opposition, meanwhile, accused the Tories in power of disrespecting voters. Labor leader Keir Starmer called for snap general elections, saying Britain "can't take another experiment". Labor is well ahead of the Conservatives in recent polls.