A week is a long time in politics. This last week has been genuinely tumultuous in Westminster. 

Last Thursday the Prime Minister resigned, following a swathe of Ministerial resignations. There was a palpable sense of relief in Parliament when this eventually happened, as it was clear that the PM had lost the support of the Parliamentary party. 

But while many political opponents were gleeful, the general sense among Conservative supporters was one of regret that events had spiralled to this conclusion. 

There had been considerable goodwill towards Boris Johnson for the way he had delivered a clear majority, resolved the political paralysis of the previous parliament, got Brexit done by withdrawing from the EU, handled the Covid pandemic with rapid vaccine development and implementation, and supported families through lockdown. 

But his judgement about handling successive crises besetting his Administration proved his undoing. 

So in this past week attention in Westminster has focussed on elections to replace the Leader of the Conservative Party. This process has been accelerated to conclude next week before Parliament rises for the summer recess.  

Conservative MPs will now whittle the candidates down to a final two, before a ballot of party members during August will decide which will become Leader and Prime Minister to form a new administration from 5th September. 

This is not an unusual way for a Prime Minister to be selected. Indeed, over the last hundred years, under successive parties with a parliamentary majority, it has been the most common way in which our Prime Ministers have been chosen. That is because we live in a Parliamentary democracy, where a leader has to command the support of their party in the House of Commons. Only Blair and Cameron have first become Prime Minister through a General Election in the last 25 years. 

The country now needs a serious leader for serious times. We need someone who can restore trust in politics, has sufficient Cabinet experience to be able to become Prime Minister overnight, and has a clear plan how to tackle the current economic challenges posed by the cost-of-living crisis and war in Europe. 

I concluded that Jeremy Hunt is the best placed among a strong field of eight potential candidates who entered the first ballot on Wednesday. I do not know the outcome at the time of writing.  

But whoever are the final two to emerge next week, the eventual winner needs to have the judgement and vision to build a team of talented colleagues who can restore confidence in our political system and deliver the leadership as Prime Minister in which Conservatives can once again be proud.