If the maelstrom of the last few days tells us anything, it is that in politics, learn to expect the unexpected.

The vote for a Brexi was the starting point - a result that confounded both the pollsters and the bookmakers - and was followed swiftly by the resignation of David Cameron and an attempt - still going on - by Labour MPs to oust their leader Jeremy Corbyn.

If that was dramatic enough, Act 2 delivered another rollercoaster ride with Boris Johnson abandoning his bid to become leader after being stabbed not in the back but in the front by Michael Gove.

The word extraordinary was hard to avoid. Or as one MP put it: “It’s the most extraordinary week since the last extraordinary week.”

Events were moving so fast that no sooner had the media reported on something than some other drama was playing out elsewhere.

The volatile mix of treachery, betrayal, lust for power and mendacity was something you would expect in an episode of “House of Cards.”

If Theresa May is to become leader of the Conservatives, it may owe something to the support of colleagues in Kent.

The volatile mix of treachery, betrayal, lust for power and mendacity was something you would expect in an episode of “House of Cards.”

Ashford MP Damian Green - former immigration minister - is taking a key role in her campaign team.

And there were early endorsements from Damian Collins and the noted Euro-sceptic Sir Roger Gale, showing that she is capable of drawing support across the political spectrum.

She is not unassailable at this stage and when the run-off between the top two candidates takes place, anything might happen - especially in view of the fact that she did support (albeit in a rather low key) the Remain camp.

But she has the quality of being see as straight and serious and as someone who focuses on the job at hand rather than calibrating her every move to further her career.

Boring? Possibly. But in the face of the turbulence of the last week, a safe pair of hands may be just what the Conservative party goes for.

As to Michael Gove, it is doubtful that he can take the crown he has always said he did not want.

Regardless of the differing accounts given over his betrayal of Boris Johnson, voters instinctively shy away from candidates who they feel they cannot trust.

I wouldn’t bet against him losing out to Andrea Leadson, the dark horse in the race whose Brexit credentials are solid and who impressed many as one of the main cheerleaders of the leave campaign.

But the past week has underlined that politics is an unpredictable business. Especially when it comes to Conservative party leaders.

Just ask Iain Duncan Smith or the former Kent MP Lord Howard of Lympne.

Oh, and David Davis who lost out to Cameron in 2005 for a job most people considered he was a shoe-in for.