A summary of today's developments
Liz Truss resigned as prime minister after just 45 days in office. Truss will be the shortest-serving prime minister in UK history. She said: “I recognise though given the situation I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative party.”
Nominations for the next PM opened tonight and will close at 2pm on Monday. Candidates will need a minimum of 100 nominations to proceed to the ballot. There will be an indicative vote of MPs once there are two candidates.
The first ballot of MPs will then be held between 3.30pm and 5.30pm on Monday. If there are three candidates, the candidate with the fewest number of votes will be eliminated.
The result will be announced at 6pm on Monday. If a second vote is needed (indicative), this will be held between 6.30-8.30pm on Monday. The result will be announced at 9pm.
If there are two candidates, the Tory membership will get to vote again and a winner will be picked by Friday.
Labour leader Keir Starmer said his party has a manifesto “ready to go” if there is an early election. He told the BBC if the Tories were to replace Liz Truss with Boris Johnson, that would make the case for an early election even stronger. The Liberal Democrats say the Conservative party should block Boris Johnson from standing again.
A senior MP in Rishi Sunak’s previous leadership campaign said they expect him to stand again, according to the Guardian’s Jessica Elgot.
Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman are also expected to stand as leadership candidates.
Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, have been ruled out of the leadership race.
Updated
Former education secretary Justine Greening tells Newsnight where the Conservatives have gone wrong.
“It’s lives off track that cost the taxpayer money”
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) October 20, 2022
Former Education Secretary Justine Greening tells #Newsnight the Tory party lost touch with its unifying mandate of Levelling Up from 2019 pic.twitter.com/d8ScurYnNW
