Who could replace Boris Johnson as next UK prime minister and Conservative Party leader

Penny Mordaunt, 49, is a junior trade minister who first became a member of Parliament in 2010. She has held a number of roles in government. In 2019, Mordaunt, a former Royal Navy reservist, became Britain’s first female defense secretary. Johnson sacked her from that position shortly after he became prime minister (she had backed Jeremy Hunt, Johnson’s rival, in the 2019 leadership contest). She reentered government a year later and was broadly seen to have been supportive of Johnson. An arch-Brexiteer, Mordaunt could appeal to the Brexit wing of the party. She is best known outside of politics for having appeared in a now-defunct reality show.