Which Tory candidate for Downing Street will worry Putin?

The Tory party leadership battle in the UK following the resignation of Boris Johnson is down to five. Are they the Magnificent Five? Will one or any of them instil fear in Vladimir Putin, enough to make him think twice about trying to rule the world? Will any of them cause President Xi Zinping in Beijing even to stop for a moment as he bites into his breakfast toast? Will Biden be thinking, oh my goodness, now I really do have to talk glowingly about the Special Relationship? No, no, no and no. The only thing I think I can reasonably safely predict is that Her Majesty the Queen will probably be whispering to herself: "Do I really have to put up with one of this lot for the next two years?" It was bad enough with Boris but at least he had charisma, super confidence in himself, and a name that everyone around the world knew and registered. Boris was Boris. It didn't work out of course because in the end you really couldn't trust what he said he was doing or trying to do. Partygate and all that and the multiple other misdemeanours in his three years in Number 10 did it for him. But now we have to contemplate his replacement and judging by the candidates' presentations on ITV last night and their constant squabbling, there is absolutely no chance that the new prime minister is going to be heralded as the saviour of the nation. We can't even run trains on a very hot day for fear the lines will melt. For those living in other parts of the world who honour me by reading this blog, let me remind you of the remaining candidates for the leadership of this blessed nation: Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer before he suddenly resigned to bring down Boris, Liz Truss, foreign secretary, Penny Mordaunt, trade minister and very briefly defence secretary, Kemi Badenoch, former equalities minister, and Tom Tugendhat, ex-soldier and chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee. Sunak is the most experienced and accomplished performer and will probably win but will he campaign for Ukraine and be a stalwart champion for democracy? Liz Truss just keeps on saying that if she wins she will do the job on the run from the first day. So I should hope. Sergey Lavrov, Russian foriegn minister, will be chuckling. He saw her off when they last met. Penny Mordaunt sounds like she has got it but I don't think does. Her lack of grasp of detail is seriously worrying. Kemi Badenoch comes across as a really good, proper-thinking politician with heart and soul but it's all a bit early for her I fear, and Tom, dear Tom Tugendhat, is solid and very well-meaning and pretty damned good at what he does but has no hope of being selected. The best performance on the ITV show last night and the one I have chosen to be the next prime minister of Great Britain is Julie Etchingham, the presenter! She looked and sounded serious but with a touch of light humour and fabulously big intellectual spectacles perched on the end of her nose. Perfect for the job. Her Majesty would love her.