Tory MPs chose Rishi Sunak - but don’t assume they’ll vote for his policies | Henry Hill

The Conservative party is now so fractious and divided that the business of government may become impossible

So there we have it. In the end, Penny Mordaunt couldn't quite scrape together enough nominees to make it over the threshold and trigger a full leadership election. Perhaps if Boris Johnson had pulled out a day or two earlier, she might have been able to build the requisite momentum. But it wasn't to be.

Now Rishi Sunak will be the UK's latest prime minister. His mission, which I suppose he now has no option but to accept, is somehow to keep the Conservatives united enough to govern and thus avoid what would be a catastrophic general election.

Henry Hill is the deputy editor of ConservativeHome