Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak is the favourite to become Britain’s next PM, with over 100 votes from fellow Conservative MPs, the only leadership contender to have confirmed having reached this milestone.
Former PM Boris Johnson pulled out over the weekend, leaving just Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt in the race.
Candidates are looking for backers now to join the streamlined process.
Hopefuls need 100 backers to enter the race.
If only one candidate gets 100 backers then there is no vote, and they automatically become the next leader.
If more than 2 candidates, Conservative MPs vote repeatedly until only 2 candidates remain.
From 2 candidates, Conservative MPs vote a final time and indicate their preferred candidate.
Conservative members across the country vote online to pick a winner, unless one of the candidates drops out.
The winner becomes leader of the Conservative party and next PM.
Prime Minister Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party. New leader to be chosen in a weeks time.
Liz Truss’s departure after 45 days in office makes her the shortest-serving PM in UK history.
Sir Graham Brady MP set out some of the broad principles of the contest this afternoon:
Sir Graham added that further details about the contest will be set out later.
The Foreign Secretary won the backing of 81,326 Tory members, compared with 60,399 for Mr Sunak.
The turnout in this year’s contest was 82.6%, with 141,725 party members casting a ballot.
Rishi Sunak needs a massive game-changer to turn this contest round if latest poll results are correct
Truss 58 per cent, Sunak 26 per cent – 12 per cent undecided
The accuracy of the poll is strengthened by similar poll results from YouGov
Here are the figures.
Liz Truss: 58 per cent (ConHome), 60 per cent (YouGov).
Rishi Sunak: 26 per cent (ConHome), 26 per cent (YouGov).
Don’t know: 12 per cent (ConHome), 11 per cent (YouGov).
But Ms Truss told supporters she is “not taking anything for granted” and a backer of Mr Sunak, Tory MP Mel Stride, said it was “all to play for”.
He told Sky News: “We know through our MPs working amongst their membership is that Rishi’s position is far stronger than many are imagining.
But Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak disagreed over recession warning in their latest TV clash
Tory leadership rivals Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have set out competing plans to deal with the economic recession forecast by the Bank of England in their latest TV clash.
Ms Truss said a recession was “not inevitable” if “bold” action was taken.
But Mr Sunak said the foreign secretary’s “unfunded” tax cuts would pour “fuel on the fire” of inflation.
At the end of 90 minutes, Liz Truss had a vision, but there was a reluctance to give all the answers. Rishi Sunak was across the issues, but wasn’t promising a bold new vision to a party fretful about the polls and the economy says Sam Coates, Deputy political editor @SamCoatesSky
Rishi Sunak won the audience, but Liz Truss appears to have a grip on the Tory membership in the country. The audience, made up of Conservative Party members, convincingly backed former chancellor Mr Sunak in a show of hands, rather than Ms Truss.
Liz Truss leads Rishi Sunak by 62% to 38% among Tory members, says polling company YouGov
The survey said Foreign Secretary Ms Truss was the preferred choice of 49% of respondents, compared to 31% for former chancellor Mr Sunak, with 15% saying they didn’t know and 6% not intending to vote.
Once “don’t knows” and those not intending to take part are taken out, this gives Liz Truss a sizeable 24-point lead.
On Monday 25 July, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak took part in a head to head debate on BBC One.
Tory members say Liz Truss triumphed in BBC leadership debate, finds a snap Yougov Poll taken immediately after the debate.
The YouGov poll of 507 Conservative party members who watched last night’s BBC debate between the two Tory leadership candidates shows that Truss is seen as the better performer, with 50% saying so to Rishi Sunak’s 39%.
The two contenders to be the next PM did not hold back from “blue-on-blue” attacks in the hour-long BBC special.
Mr Sunak told Ms Truss her tax cut plan would “tip millions of people into misery” and cost the Conservatives the next election.
Ms Truss said tax rises brought in by him would lead to a recession.
Tory members think Truss came across as more in touch, likeable and trustworthy at the BBC debate, although they are split on which candidate looked more Prime Ministerial
However, on the matter of who looked more prime ministerial, the candidates tied: 43% say that Rishi Sunak did, while 42% give that point to Liz Truss.
Across the multitude of issues covered by the debate, Truss sweeps the board, being seen as better on every single one.
Hustings for members of the Conservative Party will be held around the country – starting from Friday 22 July.
The winner will be announced on Monday 5 September after a postal ballot, completed by 160,000 Tory party members.
The final two candidates have agreed to take part in a head-to-head debate on the BBC on Monday 25 July.