Next Tory Leader: Kemi Badenoch favourite after Rishi Sunak resigns

• Rishi Sunak resigns as Tory leader after defeat

• Badenoch the favourite to be next leader

• Patel, Braverman and Cleverly could be contenders

Kemi Badenoch is the favourite on the Betfair Exchange to the next Conservative leader after Rishi Sunak resigned following his party's crushing election defeat.

At the time of writing, with two of the 650 seats left to declare, the Tories have 121 seats, a loss of 251, and Keir Starmer will govern with a landslide majority in the House of Commons.

There will be a lot of soulsearching among Tory MPs and speculation is already rife about while lead them in opposition. Some of their big name politicians, who may have been in contention to succeed Sunak, lost their seats, including Penny Mordaunt who has previously stood for the leadership.

Ex-prime minister Liz Truss was also defeated in her constituency.

Badenoch, Tugendhat and Patel lead Tory leader betting

Badenoch is 4.216/5 to be next Tory leader and will have her supporters on the right of the party. She served as secretary of state for business and trade in Sunak's government and has been regarded as one of the Conservatives' rising stars.

She previously stood for Conservative leader in 2022 - an experience she will be able to draw on if she runs again this time around. Asked recently if she wanted to succeed Sunak, she said: "We will talk about leadership things after an election".

Tom Tugendhat 4.94/1 has also stood for Conservative leader in the past and subsequently had a job in government. He comes from the party's more liberal One Nation wing and could position himself as an antidote to some of the more right-wing candidates.

Priti Patel 8.88/1 would certainly fall into the latter category. As Home Secretary under Boris Johnson she was an uncompromising figure but remained popular with many party members. Patel has also proved that she can bounce back, having been sacked by Theresa May before returning to the frontline under Johnson.

Braverman, Jenrick, Cleverly also in contention

Patel's successor in the Home Office, Suella Braverman 10.09/1, also has leadership ambitions. She is a divisive figure, however, and was sacked by Sunak. But she would not be afraid of taking the fight to the Labour government or Reform MPs.

Robert Jenrick 13.012/1 and James Cleverly 13.5 may also choose to run after holding on to their seats.

The former campaigned in the build-up to the election as if he was already positioning himself for a crack at the job.

Cleverely said last night that he would not rush to quick judgements about the election result and took a swipt at Reform.

Nigel Farage 23/124.00 on Betfair Exchange for next Tory leader

Nigel Farage became an MP at the eighth attempt, winning Clacton for Reform UK last night. Now he is 24.023/1 to become the next Conservative leader.

He attacked the Tories throughout the campaign but there are many within their ranks who admire him.

Could Farage switch from Reform to the Tories and mount a bid to be leader? The odds indicate that there are some punters who believe it could happen. His party won plenty of votes last night, taking them from both Labour and the Conservatives, even though the only finished with four MPs.

Read the latest poltics betting news on Betting.Betfair