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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Times letters: The Tory leadership and the Brexit process

The Times

Sir, You set out the path by which Boris Johnson or Dominic Raab might succeed in becoming the next leader of the Conservative Party (News, May 18). But that does not guarantee that one or the other will become the next prime minister. A new prime minister will have to command a majority in the House of Commons. The present prime minister has a bare majority of MPs, dependent on the support of the Democratic Unionists. The election of a hard Brexiteer as Conservative leader might well trigger the resignation of the Conservative whip by a number of more centrist Conservative MPs. We would then be in uncertain political (and potentially constitutional) circumstances, which it might be useful to think through before the party election