The Guardian view on the Tory leadership contest: shrinking to the challenge

That is the challenge that the remaining candidates should be confronting. Instead they appear to be operating under the illusion that, as in the past four Tory leadership selections, the winner automatically becomes prime minister. It is normal for prospective leaders to set out policy priorities and boast of achievements (real and imagined), but without candour about the scale and causes of July’s rout the whole exercise looks more like collaborative denial than healthy competition.