Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has been praying daily that he gets to help either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak in the episode where the flats in numbers 10 and 11 Downing street are redecorated by whoever is occupying the flat next door. His reasoning is that he won't have to deal with 'that' wallpaper if he gets whoever wins the leadership contest.
However he isn't underestimating the challenge of working with the next Prime Minister, as Liz Truss is famously incapable of being told she's wrong despite fitting that description on an hourly basis even when asleep, whereas Rishi Sunak, while much more receptive to ideas being suggested, is unlikely to actually roll his sleeves up and do something. 'If he has to bribe someone to let him pretend to fuel their car and needs special training to use a contactless card, he's unlikely to know which end of a paint brush to use,' said a programme aide.
The episode was arranged before Boris Johnson resigned and the Changing Rooms team already anticipated problems, not least with granting maternity leave to all the female staff on the set in nine month's time.