Her popularity among the membership seems more assured. She regularly tops the Cabinet league table published by the ConservativeHome website, which represents the party grassroots, an appeal that may in part derive from her simple but clear political messaging.
Her conscious visual emulation of Margaret Thatcher – from a bouffant hair style to her recent ride in a tank – may also help. She understands the importance of image and was, among senior British politicians, one of the earliest to adopt an Instagram page.
On Friday, she insisted Mr Johnson had her “100 per cent support” but refused to rule out running in a contest, simply saying that, at present, “there’s no leadership election”.
An array of fellow Cabinet ministers are expected to throw their hats into the ring if a race does begin – some with the prospect of potential success, others cynically viewed as likely to stand to boost their chances of retaining a frontbench role.
Big beasts including Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, and Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, are the subject of increasing chatter among colleagues who would like to see them run. Ms Patel’s gift of Christmas puddings to backbenchers last month set tongues wagging – but an ally on Friday said the puddings were a festive present, “nothing more, nothing less”.
Some Tories believe Michael Gove, the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary, could launch another tilt at the top party job, while Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, is increasingly tipped as a potential candidate.
Mr Zahawi’s role in the successful Covid jabs rollout as the former vaccines minister, and his backstory of having arrived in the UK as a nine-year-old refugee unable to speak English, have caught attention. Some have also noted that he returned from the Christmas recess looking more svelte.
A plethora of centrist candidates from the backbenches, meanwhile, are likely to stand in the hope of sweeping up support from “One Nation” Tories.
They include Jeremy Hunt, a former health secretary who admitted this week that his leadership ambitions had not “completely vanished” despite a bruising defeat in the 2019 run-off against Mr Johnson.
Strikingly, he sent Christmas cards to MPs in the 2019 intake that addressed their partners and children by name, according to Politico. The website also reported that this week he instructed officials on the Commons health committee, which he chairs, to improve their social media game.
