With Boris Johnson announcing his retirement as Prime Minister last week, some high-profile Tories are now scrambling to secure the vote of their party and become the next leader.
So far, 11 candidates have put their name forward including Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid. Both former health secretaries Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid have pledged to slash corporation tax while announcing their bid for leadership.
Meanwhile, Mr Hunt put himself forward as the best option by pointing to the fact that he remained as a backbench MP while Mr Johnson was leading the government. Mr Zahawi said earlier this week that "everything is on the table" when questioned over the corporation tax rise.
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It was reported on Saturday that Mr Johnson intends to stand down as Prime Minister on Monday in order to run again for Tory leader. However, a spokesperson for Mr Johnson quickly denied this. With many speculating over who the next leader of the country will be, we have broken down all the key dates in the Tory leadership contest:
Tuesday, July 12
Nominations open and close. In order for a party member to qualify for the chance to be Tory leader, they must demonstrate they have the support of at least 20 MPs. Currently, 10 candidates have thrown their hats into the ring.
Wednesday, July 13
The first ballot will take place on Monday where candidates must get at least 30 votes to remain in the leadership race.
Thursday, July 14
A second ballot will take place on the following day. Further ballots will continue to take place over the next week until two candidates remain, leading to a postal ballot. It has been hinted by Bob Blackman, joint-executive secretary of the 1922 Committee that they aim to have two remaining candidates before the start of MPs' summer holidays.
He told Sky News: “We’ve got to slim down the list of candidates pretty quickly to two And the one thing that we’re committed to do is to achieve getting to two candidates by Thursday, July 21.
“That means that we’ll hold a succession of ballots over the next few days in order to get to that position.”
Sunday, July 17
The first debate will be held on ITV at 7pm where candidates will get the opportunity to put forward their case to the public on why they deserve to be the next leader of the Tory party.
Monday, July 18
A second debate will take place -hosted by Sky News featuring Kay Burley.
Friday, July 22
Campaigns will begin to take place across the country over the summer period. The main aim of this is to help party members make a final decision on who the new Conservative leader should be.
Mr Blackman noted that such hustings are "conditions of nomination" for candidates to agree that they will contest the ballot of party members if they end up as the final two. It will also help to avoid the same conundrum that happened in 2016 - when Dame Andrea Leadsom dropped out of the contest, handing the leadership unchallenged to Theresa May.
Monday, September 5
The new Tory leader will be announced when MPs return to Westminster from their summer break.
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