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Liz Truss is leader no longer.

The former Liberal Democrat, who was likened to a lettuce, lost her labour to linger on, and let everyone know from London of her lasting loss.

But the scramble to replace Truss will not go the way of the prolonged contest that saw Truss replace Johnson. For instance, there will be no public debates, and members of the Conservative Party may not even get a say, if the Members of Parliament (MPs) settle things early.

Another leadership contest

According to The Guardian, nominations for the next Prime Minister will close at 2pm on Monday, Oct. 24 (9pm Singapore time).

To be a candidate, one must have the support of at least 100 MPs. Since there are about 350 Conservative MPs in Parliament right now, there can only be a maximum of three such candidates.

If there's only one candidate -- that person becomes the prime minister.

If there are three candidates, the one with the fewest number of MP supporters will be eliminated.

When there are two candidates, MPs will first vote to demonstrate their support, and then the members of the Conservative Party, around 200,000 of them, will ultimately decide who will become the next prime minister in an online vote.

A winner will be chosen by Friday, Oct. 28, just before Halloween.

Ready for Rishi

Rishi Sunak is trying once more to become Prime Minister, after losing out to Liz Truss in the previous contest in July 2022.

The former Chancellor of the Exchequer (equivalent to Singapore's Finance Minister) had strong support from the MPs but lost when it came to a vote by the party members.

Will history repeat itself once more?

Sunak doubters may have changed their mind after he basically pointed out that Truss's plans for massive tax cuts paid for by borrowing would have disastrous consequences, and it did, with the pound plunging in value.

Sunak also focused on tackling inflation in his campaign, which has recently shot up to record levels.

He's won the support of a few prominent names in the Conservative party, like former Home Ministers Suella Braverman and Lord David Frost, who was in charge of negotiating Brexit.

If Sunak wins, he will be the first ethnically Indian man to become Britain's prime minister, unless you count Robert Jenkinson, Lord Liverpool and prime minister in the 1800s, who might have had an Indian great-grandmother.

PM for PM

Standing in Sunak's way is Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the House of Commons and former Secretary of State for Defence (equivalent of Singapore's Defence Minister) under Theresa May.

Mordaunt also took part in the July 2022 leadership contest but failed to garner enough support. She was then given a few roles but was not made a cabinet minister in Liz Truss's government.

She notably substituted for Liz Truss during an Urgent Question in Parliament about the sacking of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng.

She threw her hat into the ring, one of the earliest to do so, with The Guardian speculating her public declaration was to encourage more MPs to back her.

Mordaunt appears to have won the backing of some of former prime minister Boris Johnson's supporters, according to Matt Dathan of The Times.

NEW: Boris Johnson & Penny Mordaunt spoke on the phone this afternoon

Mordaunt rejected his request to back him, saying most of her supporters would rather switch to Sunak than him

She also told him that some of his supporters had switched to backing her https://t.co/FgVbukL8jZ

— Matt Dathan (@matt_dathan) October 23, 2022

If Mordaunt does make it to 100 MPs, she may have a good chance of winning, as the party membership has the final say.

In the July contest, her support among the membership was notably higher than Sunak's at one point.

What of Boris?

Boris Johnson, the former prime minister who resigned after a raft of scandals and mass ministerial resignations, decided to join the contest, cutting short a holiday in the Caribbean.

However, after trying to drum up support, and speaking to both Sunak and Mordaunt, Johnson ultimately decided to opt out of the leadership race.

He made an announcement early in the morning of Oct. 24 (Singapore time) that he was not standing for leader and PM.

Related story:

Top image from Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt's Facebook pages.