Who succeeds the British Prime minister after Truss steps down? Johnson is expected to return

British Prime Minister Liz Truss abruptly resigned after just 45 days in office amid public anger over her plans for economic reforms and persistent support in opinion polls, making her the shortest-lived prime minister in British history. With her fall comes a bigger dilemma for the Tories: who should pick up the slack? According to Bloomberg, local U.K. gambling websites are also taking bets, and the top favorite is, of course, Mr. Truss’s party rival, Rishi Sunak, Other top contenders include former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt, speaker of the House of Commons.

Indeed, shortly after Truss announced her resignation, rumours began to circulate in the UK that Johnson, the former prime minister, was interested in a fresh bid to take over Downing Street, putting the similarly controversial politician at the forefront of the list of possible replacements. But one of the biggest challenges ahead for J&J will be how he, who was forced out by a popular revolt, can regain power with the support of his comrades in the party so soon.

For his part, Sunak, a former chancellor of the exchequer who repeatedly denounced Truss’s tax and government spending plans during the party primaries, has been vindicated as too risky and likely to lead to further problems. With ministerial experience and a background in finance and economics, Sunak is naturally expected to be a big plus if he becomes prime minister to help improve Britain’s ailing economy.

Another frontrunner, the Speaker of the House of Commons, will be less memorable to readers outside Britain. She joined the government not under J&J, but under the earlier government of Theresa May, serving as secretary of State for international development and Secretary of State for defence. She has been a member of the Conservative Party since she entered politics in 2010. She had run alongside Truss and Mr Sunak in the leadership election, and when the final results came in, Mordant received the third highest number of votes.