Analysis: Who might Liz Truss include in her Cabinet and what do MPs think of them?

Liz Truss has a seemingly insurmountable lead over Rishi Sunak in the race to be prime minister.

That is not to say the foreign secretary’s team is confident, but she’s already holding meetings over who will join her Cabinet when Boris Johnson’s replacement enters Number 10 on September 6.

Ms Truss spent the past weekend at her grace-and-favour residence Chevening looking at what jobs to give out.

Liz Truss is believed to have already picked out her cabinet team.

Those who backed former chancellor Rishi Sunak are expected to be ousted, with Michael Gove already saying his time on the frontbenches is over.

Speaking to Tories this week, the response has been one of genuine horror that one of the best minds the party has will no longer play a significant role.

One told The Scotsman: "He’s the most effective minister this party has had. It doesn’t say a lot for the Tory party that it would leave one of its most effective ministers on the benches.”

Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab is also expected to be sacked, with Mr Sunak unlikely to take a role.

Another source said: “You end up in this situation where Gove, Raab and Sunak are on the backbenches. How does that look?”

Priti Patel could also be out at the Home Office, with Suella Braverman tipped to take over.

The Secretary General once vowed to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and is a popular figure on the right of the party.

While Ms Patel is also liked, one Tory told The Scotsman her tough rhetoric did not make up for the Home Office being “utterly shambolic”.

For Chancellor, it is expected to be Kwasi Kwarteng – a friend and ally of Ms Truss who lives near her in Greenwich, South London.

Mr Kwarteng had a fiery clash with Mr Raab during the Sky debate, but allies of Mr Sunak suggest his appointment is solely due to friendship, rather than competence.

The foreign secretary role is likely to go to James Cleverly, a strong Johnson loyalist who earned respect from his colleagues as a Foreign Office minister.

Now education secretary, his appointment would be well received, especially due to his willingness to do broadcast appearances.

Kemi Badenoch is tipped for the education or culture briefs, and her appointment would fit with Ms Truss’s approach of a “war on woke”.

She is popular with the grassroots and outperformed expectations by coming fourth during the leadership campaign.

Then there is Nadhim Zahawi, the current Chancellor who threatened to resign within 24 hours of taking the role.

Despite strong success in charge of the vaccine scheme, MPs think his decision making is poor after a leadership campaign that went nowhere.

Among the more surprising appointments rumoured is Iain Duncan Smith.

At 68 and as a former leader, the difficulty is finding a role senior enough for him, with Duncan Smith too big a beast for a junior role.

Elsewhere John Redwood is being linked with a Treasury role, his first front bench role in nearly three decades.

Asked about the appointment, one MP told me “he’s very clever, that’s all I’ll say”.

As for Mr Sunak, he is expected to turn down a Cabinet role, despite the tradition of being offered health secretary.