Following the announcement that Liz Truss will resign as Prime Minister and Tory leader, the country has been speculating on who will take her place.
On October 20, Ms Truss announced that she had agreed with Sir Graham Brady, Chair of the 1922 Committee, that a leadership election will take place by the end of the week. Today, Conservative MPs will vote to decide who will become the next leader of their party.
Currently, the two main candidates with the highest amount of support from the Tories is former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and leader of the House Penny Mordaunt. It comes after Boris Johnson announced on Sunday night that he would not be taking part in the race.
Mr Sunak has already had more than 140 public declarations for support while Ms Mordaunt has had fewer than 30 since Sunday evening. A campaign source for Ms Mordaunt said: "Penny is the unifying candidate who is most likely to keep the wings of the Conservative Party together and polling shows that she is the most likely candidate to hold on to the seats the Conservative Party gained in 2019."
Meanwhile, supporters of Mr Sunak claim that he could command a strong majority in Parliament. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Nadhim Zahawi said: "Rishi is immensely talented, will command a strong majority in the parliamentary Conservative Party, and will have my full support and loyalty."
Here's how the leadership vote may play out throughout this afternoon.
What time is the leadership vote?
Sir Graham announced that nomination will close at 2pm this afternoon. Each candidate must secure at least 100 nominations from their fellow Tory MPs - currently, there are 357 Conservative MPs.
If three separate candidates manage to reach the threshold then Conservative MPs will have to place a vote.
That first round would be held between 3.30pm and 5.30pm with the result announced at 6pm.
Following this, the top two candidates would face an indicative vote. This will be held between 6.30pm and 8.30pm with the result announced at 9pm.
The loser of the “indicative” vote may drop out of the race, in which case a new leader emerges without the involvement of Tory party members.
If two candidates do end up running there will then be an online vote by party members.
The ballot will close at 11am on October 28, with the result announced later that day.
"We fixed a high threshold but a threshold that should be achievable by any serious candidate who has a prospect of going through," Sir Graham said.
However, if only one candidate secures the nominations required, then no confirmatory vote by Conservative Party members will need to take place and the leader will be confirmed by the end of today.
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