Many, many politicians want to become prime minister. It’s the top job, the chance to be the boss, the one politician in the country that is guaranteed a place in the history books and everyone’s living rooms on the telly.
On Monday we’ll learn who is the new leader of the Conservative Party – and our next PM.
On our new show, starting this Sunday on BBC One, I’ll be asking the two people vying for that responsibility – Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak – why they want the job.
And given the extreme problems whoever walks through the No 10 door will have to solve – I’ll be asking whether they have the answers to the nation’s questions.
First – how on earth will they help families and firms keep the lights on in the next few months?
Bills aren’t just squeezing consumers, demanding we all make some different choices, but are presenting costs that are simply impossible for many of us to pay.
This is not the same as general worries about making ends meet. This is the prospect of costs that some businesses and millions of households just won’t be able to cope with.
We’ve all seen how parts of the NHS are pressed – struggling to provide anything like the level of care the public expects.
Making the right decisions or having a controversial conversation that does not involve additional spending will require political gumption, determination and perhaps a lot of luck.
That’s even before considering multiple other issues like strikes on the railways, tensions with the EU over Northern Ireland and the push for a new referendum on Scottish independence.
There’s a political challenge too. Many Conservatives acknowledge privately that the party is exhausted after more than a decade in power.
After all the psychodrama of the Johnson years and the pressures of the pandemic there is a question over the party’s real identity. Can his successor keep together different groups of voters with very different wants and needs?
- Also on Sunday’s show will be Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine
- Watch on BBC One and iPlayer this Sunday, 4 September, from 09:00 BST
- Follow Laura on Twitter @BBCLauraK
And like no other recent leader they will inherit a continuing war as well. Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has changed the dial. It’s put boosters on energy prices and shaken Europe’s sense of security.
Boris Johnson relished the role of being Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s diplomatic best friend and the two Tory contenders have both promised vigorous support.
Yet with the economic impact of the war becoming ever more acute is there a risk that support could fade?
Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska – who is also on the show this Sunday – fears so.
She acknowledged the cost of living was “very tough” but said “the prices are going up in Ukraine as well”.
Underlining the still perilous situation her country faces, she added: “But in addition our people get killed… when you start counting pennies on your bank account or in your pocket, we do the same and count our casualties.”
Our 56th prime minister will seek to maintain Boris Johnson’s level of support for Ukraine, but managing the impact of Putin’s aggression and its profound effect on energy prices is at the top of a challenging list.
Mrs Zelenska shied away from making a political statement on the UK’s next leader. She did wish them good luck – and there is no question that’s something that they will need plenty of.