How we might have a new Prime Minister as early as next week

I'm not saying this is going to happen. I merely point out that we should prepare ourselves for the possibility of it happening.

So why might we have a new Prime Minister next week when Tory party rules state a new leader is due to be announced on 9 September?

There are five candidates: Crabb, Fox, Gove, Leadsom & May (listed here alphabetically in the interests of fairness).

They all go before a ballot of the party's 330 MPs.

The candidate with the fewest number of votes drops out.

On Tuesday, we go from 5 to 4.

On Thursday, from 4 to 3.

Until there are just two contenders remaining - who will face a ballot of the party membership across the country.

Two things might happen:

1) The rules are followed and, in all likelihood, a former Remain campaigner and a former Leave campaigner make their cases before Tory party members.

2) One candidate is so far ahead of the others in the first or second round of voting next week that the remaining contenders drop out - leaving just one candidate for leader and Prime Minister.

Why would those ambitious Tory MPs drop out at that stage?

It's possible that they might conclude it would be in the interests of party unity and in the interests of the nation to coalesce around one candidate.

There is a political crisis in the governing and opposition parties; many predict an economic crisis in some form triggered by the EU referendum, there are some big decisions which are being put off: Article 50, relations with EU, deficit reduction and Heathrow airport expansion to name but four.

So when we are down to the final three Tory leadership candidates, they might - I repeat might - conclude that it is better to have a new Prime Minister who can start work straight away, rather than keep David Cameron in limbo until September.

And after the events of the last seven days in Westminster, I don't think we can count on the next seven being uneventful.