Baverman is losing support as potential party leader, say Tories

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

- Jessica Elgot

Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel and Kemi Badenoch are seen as more viable candidates by a number of MPs, all of whom have ruled out a deal with the hard-right Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

The Conservative party board is expected to meet today to begin drawing up plans for a leadership contest to replace Rishi Sunak after the Tories' devastating defeat.

Some party grandees have been pushing for a longer leadership contest. No decision will be made on the timeline until the meeting of the backbench 1922 committee of remaining Tory MPs.

Sunak himself is described as "shellshocked" by the result by those who have spoken to him, the Guardian has been told. The former prime minister has been calling all former Conservative MPs who lost their seats over the weekend.

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

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

Another senior Tory said: "It must be more than banging on about immigration. Labour's weak spot is delivering on their promise of growth - that is going to become a big debate in British politics." One former MP said: "There are no more Conservative MPs in Oxfordshire. That is not because we were not similar enough to Nigel Farage.