I don't believe it

 Well that was short lived! Liz Truss has put herself into the record books as the shortest reigning PM in British history. 

To be fair, the lady was out of her depth as many predicted she would be. 

So now the Conservative party are looking for a replacement. This time though they've set the bar higher to ensure that the contest isn't drawn out as it was in the Summer. 

Each candidate has to have the backing of 100 MPs to enter the competition.  If there is more than one candidate with sufficient numbers, then the MPs will vote to whittle it down to two and  the party will vote online to decide the winner. 

Most of those who started off in the last contest will struggle to get 100 backers leaving Rishi Sunak as the most likely person to be first on the list. There can't be more than 3 candidates because there are no more that 350 Conservative MPs. 

Last time there was a caucus of MPs and party members who wanted Johnson's name on the list even though he'd just resigned after being forced out by his own MPs. He wasn't eligible then but he is now. 

Rumours are flying that Johnson is on his way back from his holiday in the Caribbean in order to garner support for his candidacy. Talk is of him being the only candidate other than Sunak to achieve  the magic number of backers. 

Suppose then that it boils down to Sunak v Johnson and it is left up to the members to decide. Who would they back? I'd put my money on Johnson. Daily Express readers have already chosen Johnson to be the next PM with a whopping 60% voting for him. 

Of course, if he is found guilty of misleading Parliament in November, Johnson could face possible suspension from Parliament. That would be an interesting situation - a Prime Minister suspended from sitting.