A Tory party all at sea Who is fit to captain the good ship Conservative after defeat?

Conservatives have suggested that former home secretary Suella Braverman is losing support as a potential party leader, as some who lost votes across southern England privately urged colleagues to resist a lurch to the right.

- By Jessica Elgot

A number of MPs now see Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel and Kemi Badenoch, all of whom have ruled out a deal with the hardright Reform leader Nigel Farage, as more viable candidates.

The Conservative party board is expected to meet to begin to draw up plans for a leadership contest to replace Rishi Sunak after the Tories' devastating general election defeat. No decision will be made on the timeline until a meeting of the backbench 1922 Committee of remaining Tory MPs.

Three potential candidates appeared to discuss the postmortem in the Sunday papers and TV shows: Braverman, Jenrick, a former immigration minister, and Victoria Atkins, a former health secretary.

Strategists for a number of candidates are analysing the records of the 121 remaining MPs. "It's not a Faragist party," said one. "Anyone who pursues that will lose."