June 11, 2019 3.52 pm This story is over 57 months old

Lincolnshire MPs back candidates for PM job

Who will replace Theresa May?

As Theresa May packs bags for her No 10 departure and the Conservative leadership race starts to heat up, Lincolnshire MPs have begun to reveal who they’re backing.

“I have done my best,” said Prime Minister Theresa May in tears on the steps of Number 10 Downing Street on May 24.

Mrs May, who is still the interim PM, is due to step down in July.

The long-awaited move has paved the way for ten candidates, who have put their names forward for the top job.

Now Tory MPs will hold a ballot to whittle down that list until just two people remain.

These two nominees are then put to a ballot of the wider Conservative party membership.

Some Lincolnshire Conservative MPs have already revealed who they want to be the next Prime Minister.

Gainsborough MP Edward Leigh

Gainsborough MP Edward Leigh said it is “absolutely clear that Michael Gove is exactly the right person, at exactly the right time, for this vital task.”

He wrote a full article on his website outlining his reasons.

John Hayes

The MP for South Holland and the Deepings wrote in the Express about why he wanted to back Michael Gove.

John Hayes said he though Gove has the “vision and intellectual capacity to construct an alternative narrative.”

North Hykeham and Sleaford MP Caroline Johnson

Sleaford and North Hykeham MP Caroline Johnson is backing Boris in the leadership race.

She told The i: “We can no longer faff around delaying Brexit. We’ve got to deliver it and get on with rebuilding.”

MP for Louth and Horncastle Victoria Atkins

While Victoria Atkins, the MP for Louth and Horncastle, declared her support for Sajid Javid in a joint letter with her Home Office colleagues.

It was published in The Telegraph on Sunday, June 9 and said: “We have all worked with Sajid during his time in the Home Office and in Government, and we know from first hand experience that he is the candidate in this leadership election who would break down barriers.”

Boston and Skegness MP Matt Warman.

The Boston and Skegness MP Matt Warman has not yet publicly backed a candidate.

He said he will hold two drop-in sessions on June 14 in Skegness and June 15 in Boston to allow people to air their views on the matter.

But what do the MPs know? The Lincolnite asked people on the High Street who could step up and become the next Prime Minister.