Philip Hammond's reason for wanting to be Prime Minister sounds like he's in primary school

Philip Hammond thinks he can be Prime Minister because Theresa May is.

In yesterday's Sunday Times, political editor Tim Shipman revealed that some ministers want the current Chancellor, Philip Hammond to become a "caretaker Prime Minister".

The Sunday Times reports that a "former cabinet colleague" of the Chancellor said:

He told me that if Theresa May could be prime minister, so could he.

It's not really the most convincing of pitches is it?

Another unnamed serving minister told the Sunday Times:

I think Philip is the only plausible candidate for a couple of years, with DD [David Davis] running Brexit.

He is a more credible caretaker than the current prime minister.

The PM’s brand is so damaged it is painful.

The calculation that people are beginning to make is that she is so inadequate we can’t wait two years with her in place.

While Hammond supports "soft Brexit" (or a soft-landing hard Brexit, to further muddy the terms and remove them from any meaning) it's believed an alliance with Eurosceptic Brexit Secretary David Davis would win the pair votes from across the party.

However, Davis dismissed the claims on the Marr Show on Sunday morning, calling it "self-indulgent chatter".

David Davis, Jeremy Corbyn and Philip Hammond are all joint favourites to be the next Prime Minister depending on which bookmaker's odds you check.

More: Theresa May made a joke about Diane Abbott's maths. She forgot her Chancellor got his sums wrong by 20 billion