Image source, Reuters

The biggest challenge for the next Conservative Party leader will be to reunite the party and claw back voters from Reform, Tory commentator Tim Montgomerie tells the BBC.

The founder of the Conservative Home website says the left have historically been divided between Liberal Democrats, Labour, SNP and Greens, where the Tories have had the advantage of dominating the right - until this election.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Montgomerie claims a new Tory leader "looks more worthwhile than a few months ago because of Labour's troubles" but says "the challenge persists" over uniting voters who have turned to Reform.

Speaking of internal divisions - such as former candidate James Cleverly announcing he won't accept a frontbench role from the next leader – he says the party "has to find a way of working together".

But Montgomerie also admits It will be hard to staff the opposition effectively when there's only 121 Tory MPs.

Image source, PA Media

Six contenders made the initial shortlist after gaining the support of at least 10 Conservative Party MPs.

On 4 September, Dame Priti Patel was the first would-be leader to be knocked out in the first ballot among her colleagues.

On 10 September, five became four when a second Tory MP vote knocked out Mel Stride.

The final four had a number of opportunities to speak directly to Conservative members at the party's conference in Birmingham, between 29 September and 2 October.

On 8 October, Tom Tugendhat was eliminated from the contest in the third round, and James Cleverly was knocked out the following day.

This left Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick as the final pair to be put to party members to pick the winner.

Helen Catt
Political correspondent

This all kicked off back on 24 July - and since then it's been a bit like a Strictly Come Dancing contest for politics nerds.

From a Conservative Party perspective, the point behind this lengthy process was to give members a chance to see the candidates up close and avoid rushing them into making a decision.

Meanwhile, in terms of parliamentary opposition it has left a bit of a vacuum. As acting leader Rishi Sunak hasn't been able to set a direction for what the Conservatives are going to do in opposition.

Whoever wins today, they've got to hit the ground running. They've got a huge task in rebuilding their party after their election defeat.

Both of them agree they've also got a huge job to do in rebuilding trust with voters - and that has to start quickly.

Chris Mason
Political editor

Famously, it is the hardest job in politics: leader of the opposition.

And it is particularly hard if your party has just gone down to a historically bad thrashing at the hands of the electorate.

Any glance at the history books might not lift the spirits of the winner either.

When the Conservatives last took an almighty pasting at a general election, in 1997, it took them 13 years and four leaders to make it back to power.

When Labour were turfed out in 2010, it took them 14 years and three leaders before they won again in July.

Nonetheless, the contest to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader has been a competitive one.

And precedents are there to be broken – as recent British political history attests to.

• Read more about how the final phase of the leadership election will play out here

Image source, PA Media

Born in London and raised in Nigeria, Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke became the Tory MP for Saffron Walden in 2017 under her married name Badenoch.

Known for her robust views and no-nonsense style, her political heroine growing up in Nigeria was Margaret Thatcher, according to Blue Ambition, a biography written by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft.

She returned to the UK at the age of 16 to study for her A-levels before gaining a masters degree in computer systems engineering from the University of Sussex.

She became more Conservative partly as "a reaction to the very spoiled, entitled, privileged, metropolitan elite-in-training at university", she told a Spectator magazine podcast.

Before entering politics, the 44-year-old - who has three children - worked in IT and banking.

She held a series of ministerial jobs under Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, who promoted her to business secretary.

But it is arguably through her other former role - as minister for women and equalities - that she has emerged as a darling of the modern Conservative right for her stance on trans rights.

She first ran for Conservative leader in 2022 following Johnson's resignation and came fourth, despite starting the race with a relatively low-profile.

Launching her latest bid, she said the Conservative Party needed to "stop acting like Labour" to win back power.

Image source, Getty Images

Robert Jenrick has reinvented himself as being on the right of the Conservative Party, after beginning his political journey as a more centrist figure - as well as a close ally of former-PM Rishi Sunak.

In December 2023, he resigned his role as immigration minister, saying Sunak's emergency Rwanda legislation did not go far enough.

And he has since been outspoken about what he sees as his party's failure to deliver on its promises to cut immigration when it was in power.

In particular, he has led calls for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.

This helped him attract support from MPs previously loyal to his former boss at the Home Office, Suella Braverman, who ruled herself out of the leadership contest before it began.

The 42-year-old father of three was a corporate lawyer - and a director of auction house Christie's - before entering politics as the MP for Newark in 2014.

His Tory leadership pitch is that the party needs to confront hard truths - arguing only he can make the changes needed to win the next election.

In 2020, he was embroiled in controversy over his decision as housing secretary to grant planning permission for a housing development in east London linked to a Tory donor. In 2023, he made headlines again for ordering that murals of cartoon characters at a reception centre for child asylum seekers in Dover be painted over.

Conservative Party members cast their votes for either Robert Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch between 15 October and 31 October.

They have made their choices via a secure online voting system, though this approach has previously been criticised for its susceptibility to hackers and rogue state interference.

To be eligible to vote, Tory party members must have been active for 90 days before the ballot closed, and to have been members when nominations opened.

The new leader of the party will be announced today - at which point Rishi Sunak will formally stand down.

Alex Forsyth
Political correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Few parts of the country illustrate the challenge the new leader will face better than Cornwall. The county used to be a sea of Conservative blue.

Until recently, the party held all six Parliamentary seats. But the tide turned in July's election, and they were all washed away.

The Tories lost four seats to Labour and two to the Lib Dems, while Reform UK took votes across the board.In the market town of Liskeard, which sits in a constituency the Tories lost to Labour, Richard Dorling chairs the South East Cornwall Conservative Association and spent time during the election knocking on doors and hearing voters’ concerns.

“They’re looking for people to take charge and reduce immigration and stop the boats, and Reform have a very strong story for that,” he said.

“Whoever gets into the leadership position is going to have to come up with a new plan to tackle that, and get the voters back."

• Read more about what the next Conservative leader must do to claw back votes here

Adam Durbin
Live editor

Good morning and welcome to our coverage as we wait to hear who will win the Conservative Party’s leadership election.

After a selection process lasting a little over three months, the Conservatives will announce former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s successor this morning - either Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick.

Six candidates initially threw their hat into the ring in July, steadily whittled down to two after four rounds of voting among the party’s 121 MPs.

Since that process came to a close, members of the party have had 16 days to cast their ballot online and voice their support for either contender - as both Badenoch and Jenrick made their pitches across the country.

We'll bring you all the build-up and analysis from our team of journalists and correspondents, as well as the results in the final stage in the race to become the next Tory leader.