Chris Mason: Kemi Badenoch is favorite but can she capture the Conservative Party leadership crown?

Current frontbenchers serving under Sunak have been asked to remain in their current roles until Wednesday, I have been told.

While the winner will likely appoint the most senior team members over the weekend and early next week, it will take some time for all lower ranks to be filled, with parliamentary appointments due first thing on Monday morning.

So who will win?

The long-held expectation of many since Badenoch and Jenrick made it to the bottom two was that Badenoch would be the favourite.

Since the polls closed on Thursday, the majority, but not all, views have remained the same.

“I still don’t expect to sleep well,” a Badenoch supporter told me last night, adding grumpily: “he has had a year’s head start” – a reference widely seen by his colleagues as a reference to Jenrick’s resignation from the government in December last year. as his first foray into leadership territory.

Badenoch remained a cabinet minister until the Conservatives’ defeat in July.

Jenrick approached the contest as the underdog but also with tremendous energy, organizing 250 events and meeting nearly 20,000 party members.

He also seems to have said yes to almost every media invitation to appear on television, radio, newspapers, podcasts or online any day of the week.

Badenoch waited until the last few days for a media blitz but was also traveling around the country meeting as many party members as possible.

“He’s got that sparkle, we’d have a big fight with him and Starmer,” one of his supporters told me.

But both Badenoch and Jenrick know how challenging the task they will undertake will be.

It doesn’t take too long to wait anymore to find out whose job it will be.