We know we are getting a new prime minister next week, and we're about to hear from both the candidates. But how will that process actually happen?

Here's a rough timetable:

• The winner of the Conservative leadership contest - either Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss - will be announced on Monday at 12:30 BST
• The following day Boris Johnson is due to travel to Balmoral to tender his resignation to the Queen
• The new Conservative party leader will also head up to Scotland, where he or she will be appointed by the Queen
• Mr Sunak or Ms Truss will then travel to Downing Street where they will likely make their first prime ministerial speech

Image source, EPA

As we've mentioned - the first Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg has two heavyweight political guests today - Conservative Party leadership rivals Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Polling among party members in their leadership election closed on Friday afternoon and the result will be announced tomorrow.

If you want to know more about the candidates and what they stand for on the key issues - we’ve put together a comparison of their policies here.

Image source, Reuters

Next up on today's show after Liz Truss will be her rival for the top job, former chancellor Rishi Sunak.

He's just arrived at New Broadcasting House for his interview.

Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

Image source, Getty Images

Many, many politicians want to become prime minister. It's the top job, the chance to be the boss, the one politician in the country that is guaranteed a place in the history books and everyone's living rooms on the telly.

On Monday we'll learn who is the new leader of the Conservative Party - and our next PM.

On our new show I'll be asking the two people vying for that responsibility - Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak - why they want the job.

And given the extreme problems whoever walks through the No 10 door will have to solve - I'll be asking whether they have the answers to the nation's questions.

• Read Laura’s full preview of this morning’s show - and the challenges facing the new PM

Image source, Reuters

We're getting a new PM this week, with the results of the Conservative leadership election on Monday - and one of the two contenders has just pulled up at the BBC's New Broadcasting House.

Here's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, ready for her grilling from Laura as the first guest on the new show.

Image source, Reuters

Reflecting on the news of the day and what the guests have said on the show are today's panel - who we’ll hear from three times during the show:

• Labour MP and shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry has represented the London seat of Islington South since 2005 having previously worked as a barrister
• Comedian Joe Lycett is probably best known for The Great British Sewing Bee on the BBC and Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back on Channel 4. He’s currently touring the UK and Ireland with his new stand-up show
• Former No 10 deputy chief of staff Cleo Watson who was brought into Downing Street as an aide to Boris Johnson’s then-chief adviser Dominic Cummings

Come tomorrow, we will know who is the new leader of the Conservative Party and the UK’s next prime minister.

As soon as they are appointed by the Queen at Balmoral on Tuesday, the new PM will set to work - and the in-tray is looking very full - with a substantial number of challenges for the new occupant of No 10 Downing Street:

• The cost of living crisis - the energy price cap is set to rise to more £3,500 in October, while the UK’s inflation rate hit a four decade-high of 10.1% in July largely due to the cost of staples such as milk, cheese, eggs and bread
• The Ukraine war - more than six months after Russia invaded it’s smaller neighbour, the new UK leader will be expected to sustain military and financial support for Ukraine, despite the impact the war is having on energy and food prices
• Northern Ireland - there is still no devolved government after May’s assembly elections, because the Democratic Unionist Party refuses to form a power-sharing administration with the nationalist party Sinn Fein because it objects the continued existence of the Northern Ireland Protocol - a post-Brexit trade agreement between the UK and EU which aims to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland
• Climate change and energy - the UK has said it will become a net-zero emitter of carbon dioxide by 2050 - and that commitment was written into law in 2019. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - and the subsequent spike in energy prices - has led some to call for more to be done to make the UK more self-sufficient in terms of how it keeps the lights on. The new PM will face competing calls to boost renewable energy or find new sources of fossil fuels from fracking for shale gas or renewed drilling in the North Sea

Rob Corp
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

The programme team have been in New Broadcasting House since before 06:00 this morning, putting the final touches to the show.

Laura, the production team, director and technical crew go through the guests, the running order, and what’s left to be tweaked and checked before we go on air. There’s a discussion about which stories from the papers have piqued the team's interest, and what they can do to reflect these on the show.

This morning, away from the Conservative Party leadership election, the talk is about Nasa calling off its second attempt to launch the Artemis moon rocket and Foo Fighters’ first gig since the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins.

Once they’ve agreed what still needs doing - Laura goes off to make-up and the editor and producers assemble in a meeting room on the ground floor of the building, where they finalise scripts and start putting together graphics of today's front pages.

Befitting the first show of a brand-new series, there are some big names coming up between 9 and 10:

• Conservative Party leadership hopefuls Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak

and

• First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska - recorded last week in Kyiv

Laura’s panel of guests looking at the news and today’s interviews are Labour frontbencher Emily Thornberry, former No 10 deputy chief of staff Cleo Watson and comedian Joe Lycett.

Rob Corp
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

The BBC has a long and proud history of bringing you the big political interviews on a Sunday morning - from Frost to Raworth via Marr - and that won’t change.

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg though will also feature some top names from the worlds of entertainment, business, industry, sport and science, who’ll make up a panel of guests reflecting on the top stories in the Sunday papers, online and on the show.

We’ll come back to them several times during the show to give their take on the question of the day and reflect on the interviews they’ve just heard.

By the end of the show we’ll see if they’ve got the answers they were looking for - or is there still more to know?

Welcome to our live coverage of the first-ever Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg - where the biggest names inside and outside of politics are questioned about the key issues of the week ahead.

It is of course a big week in British politics - not just the return to Parliament of MPs - but the announcement tomorrow of who has won the Conservative Party leadership election - and on Tuesday they will become the next prime minster of the country.

We’ll bring you the key quotes and top newslines from the show over the coming couple of hours as Laura finds out what are the challenges facing the new PM - she’ll ask today’s guests Foreign Secretary and Tory frontrunner Liz Truss and ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

As well as following updates here, you’ll be able to watch the show live from 9am UK time by clicking the play button in the picture above.

We’ll also have some glimpses of how the show is prepared and what’s going on behind the scenes, so stay with us.