Boris’s replacement to be chosen by September 5

THE next Conservative British prime minister will be chosen by September 5, the party’s backbench leader announced last night.

Nominations will open and close today, with the first ballot tomorrow and the second on Thursday, Graham Brady said.

The head of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers said he expected it would be a ‘lively contest’.

Each contender would need the backing of 20 Tory MPs to be on the first ballot tomorrow. Rishi Sunak is in the lead with 40 supporters, while Penny Mordaunt is second at 26. Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, was last night said to have met the 20vote threshold needed to get on the ballot.

To reach the second ballot on Thursday, a candidate would need to have the backing of 30 Conservative MPs.

This vote would whittle the field down to the final two candidates, but a further ballot will follow on Monday if this has not been achieved.

The final two would then compete for the support of Tory party members who will vote in a postal ballot.

The decision was announced by Mr Brady last night after a meeting of the Conservative Party’s executive board.

So far, 11 candidates have declared their intention to be leader. The only one to have met the requirement to reach the second round so far is Mr Sunak.

The aim is to cut the number of candidates to three or four by the end of this week with a series of ‘knockout’ votes. A shortlist of two will then be chosen by MPs before the summer recess on July 21.

Boris Johnson will remain as caretaker PM until Conservative members elect a new leader from the shortlist. The aim is to complete the process before MPs return to Westminster on September 5.

Mr Johnson has said he would not endorse any of the candidates. ‘That’s not the job of the prime minister at this stage,’ he said.