THE NOT-SO-MODEST CONTENDER FOR NUMBER 10

IT IS said that every Conservative MP thinks he (or she) would do a far better job of leading the party than the incumbent.

One of those who definitely thinks that is the 37-year-old MP for Plymouth Moor, Johnny Mercer, who last October described Mrs May’s leadership as a ‘s***show’.

A few days ago he posted on his Twitter feed a missive of adoration from an unnamed admirer: ‘It is clear you are in politics to pursue the common good, and not the highest office. Yet I urge you to do so. You have the capability to lay the foundations for the modern, compassionate and caring Conservative Party this country so clearly needs.’

Modestly declaring this to be ‘the letter of the week’, Mercer is now urging the party to change its leadership election rules so that four MPs — rather than just two — are selected by parliamentary colleagues to be put before party members.

The more established candidates see this as a ruse designed principally for the benefit of one Johnny Mercer, only an MP since 2015.

He of course denies that, accusing the parliamentary Whips’ office of ‘dirty tricks’ against him, and declaring: ‘No 10’s idea that I am running a leadership campaign is a joke. I must be the only Tory MP who hasn’t asked a single colleague to support them.’

This provoked one MP to tell me: ‘That’s what I call a joke. Johnny has had conversations with a number of us about running.’

Now, there’s nothing wrong in aspiring to be Prime Minister, even if your experience of executive authority and decisionmaking in government is exactly zero.

And Mercer, a former Army captain, definitely looks lovely — as he demonstrated when stripping off in the shower for the starring role in a Dove soap advertisement.

But it’s not exactly obvious he’s got the wits to go with the looks.

And this would be an audition for the most testing executive job of all.