Tory MPs are calling on Theresa May to appoint her first cabinet within the next ten days
Theresa May must move as quickly as possible to appoint a new cabinet according to Tory MPs, after being left as the sole candidate to succeed Prime Minister David Cameron.
Energy minister Andrea Leadsom, May's only rival for the job, withdrew earlier today.
So grateful for all the support – I do believe my decision is in the best interests of the country and our economy & I wish Theresa success!
— Andrea Leadsom MP (@andrealeadsom) July 11, 2016
The withdrawal will mean an acceleration in the party's plans to find a new leader, which had previously been based on making an appointment by 9 September.
And now, two Tory MPs have told Morning Wire that May should seek to install her first cabinet as Prime Minister by the end of next week, when parliament goes into recess for the Summer.
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Treasury committee member Mark Garnier, who supported May in the campaign, said: "Now that we know where we are there is no point in hanging around. Everybody want to get on with their lives.
"She will have to work out her own government and work out who is going to do what. But I would hope that we would see something on that front before the recess starts. Then people have plenty of time to bed in to their new jobs."
Tory backbencher Marcus Fysh, who campaigned for Leave, but didn't explicitly back a candidate in the leadership competition, agrees.
"I would expect her to be in place within the next few days. And then it would make sense for her to be trying to go get the vast majority of her administration in place by the recess on 21 July," he says, adding that the need to rapidly begin Brexit talks must drive rapid progress.
"Clearly business doesn't like is uncertainty so the sooner that we can articulate what it is that we want from a renegotiation and go about tackling it the better. It's a good thing that this whole process has been shortened," Fysh says.
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Despite supporting the Remain camp in the build up to the referendum, May has been clear since that "Brexit means Brexit", assuaging the fears of some Leave voters, although Fysh cautions that the likely PM will also need senior Leave voices around her.
"I think that there needs to be people who have argued for leave an understand those matters will within her administration to make it happen and happen well," he said.
Meanwhile, Leadsom's campaign manager Tim Loughton has hit out at the press following his candidate's withdrawal.
Loughton, who led a march on parliament in support of the energy minister, said that Leadsom had faced "an onslaught of personal attacks from colleagues an journalists".
Leadsom's campaign spent much of the weekend under fire after she told The Times had having children meant she had "a very real stake" in the future of the country. May is childless.
She had also faced repeated questions over her work in financial services prior to entering parliament.
"Using spin and underhand tactics against decent people whose prime motivation is to serve has for too long undermined the confidence of the public in our politics," Loughton said.