Amber Rudd believes that Boris Johnson is the Tory leadership candidate who could win an election

Amber Rudd is preparing to back Boris Johnson to be the next Tory leader after MPs approached her allies urging the work and pensions secretary to join a “dream team” alliance that they have dubbed “BAmber”.

Rudd thinks Michael Gove is the most “attractive” candidate and Jeremy Hunt is best placed to succeed Theresa May. But she believes that Johnson is the one who can win a general election.

Allies say Rudd will not make a public declaration about who she is supporting until the contest is under way, after she moved early to back Johnson in 2016, only to see his campaign implode.

Instead she will wait to see whether anyone runs from the pure remainer wing of the Conservative Party who could represent