UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing a confidence vote on Monday evening after a growing number of lawmakers in his Conservative Party questioned the British leader's authority over what has been dubbed the "partygate" scandal.

Johnson, who scored a sweeping election victory in 2019, has been under increasing pressure after he and staff held parties in his Downing Street office and residence when Britain was under strict COVID-19 lockdowns.

He was met with a chorus of jeers and boos - and some muted cheers - at events to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth in recent days.

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So, which Conservative Party members are in the running to replace Johnson, should he lose the vote?

Jeremy Hunt

Jeremy Hunt, 55, has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 2005, and was re-elected in May 2010. 

Hunt served as the Culture Secretary and Minister for Olympics from 2010 to 2012 under then UK Prime Minister David Cameron. He then became the Secretary of State for Health, and became the longest-serving Health Secretary in UK political history on 3 June 2018, when he was serving in Theresa May's cabinet.

The controversial new junior doctors' contract was imposed under him. In 2018, he was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, in Theresa May's government.

He contested the Conservative Party leadership in 2019 but lost to Boris Johnson. In January 2020, he was elected as the new Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee and told fellow Conservative MPs "now is the time for change."

Liz Truss

Elizabeth Truss, 46, entered parliament after being elected as the Conservative MP in 2010. Just two years later, she was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare. She then served as the Environment Minister for two years from July 2014.

Truss was in charge of the Justice Ministry from July 2016 until June 2017 before being appointed as Chief Secretary to the Treasury until July 2019. Truss became UK's Foreign Minister on 15 September 2021. 

She is a qualified management accountant and has also worked in the energy and telecommunications industry for 10 years as a commercial manager and economics director.

Tom Tugendhat

Tom Tugendhat, 48, is a former soldier who served during the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. He was first elected as the Conservative Party MP in 2015, and then reelected in 2019. Tugendhat has been serving as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee since 2017. 

He also served for the Foreign Office in Afghanistan, in a civilian capacity, and helped set up the National Security Council of Afghanistan and the government in Helmand Province.

He became the first MP to openly put himself forward as a potential candidate to replace Boris Johnson in the midst of the "partygate" scandal.

Penny Mordaunt

Penny Mordaunt, 49, is another candidate with experience of working with the military. She entered parliament after being elected as the Conservative MP in 2010 and served as Minister for the Armed Forces between 2015 and 2016, and Minister for Women and Equalities between 2016 and 2017.

Mordaunt served as Secretary of State for International Development from 2017 to 2019 and Defense Minister in 2019 in Theresa May's cabinet.

She has been the Minister of State at the Department for International Trade since September thanks in part to her experience as the UK Governor to the World Bank where she welcomed moves by China to look at the way it spends aid in developing countries.

Ben Wallace

Ben Wallace, 52, is also a former soldier and attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. An MP for Wyre and Preston North, Wallace first entered politics in 1999 as a Member of the Scottish Parliament. After moving to Lancashire, he was elected to the UK House of Parliament in 2005.

Wallace was Minister of State for Security at the Home Office for three years from July 2016. He was in this position during the Westminster Bridge and London Bridge terror attacks of 2017 as well as the chemical attack in Salisbury in 2018.

Wallace is currently the UK's Defense Minister, a position that he has held since July 2019.