Who replaces Theresa May? How the new prime minister is chosen

Theresa May announced on 24 May that she's stepping down from her job as leader of the Conservative Party and so someone else will become prime minister, but how will a replacement for the two roles be chosen?

Mrs May gave a tearful speech as she explained that her time in 10 Downing Street was coming to an end.

She announced the decision after facing a lot of criticism over her handling of Brexit.

Why isn't there a general election?

Often, the UK prime minister gets chosen in a general election.

Most adults over the age of 18 in the UK can vote in a general election, and usually the political party that wins the most seats in the House of Commons gets to form a government.

Now that Theresa May has decided to resign as leader of the Conservative Party, it's down to them to decide who will be the the party's new leader. That person will then become the new prime minister of the UK.

So how will the Conservative Party choose a new leader?

After 12 Conservative MPs put their names forward to be the new leader, the party decided they needed to change the rules to speed up the process.

You can take a look at the potential candidates here.

Under the old rules, all the candidates would need just two of their MP colleagues to support them, but the new rules say they now need eight.

Once there are two or more candidates, Conservative MPs hold a series of secret votes to reduce the list, until just two are left.

Candidates need to win the votes of at least 17 MPs in the first round of voting and then at least 33 MPs in the second vote to remain in the competition.

If each of the leadership hopefuls get the amount of votes they need, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated.

The first vote will take place on Thursday 13 June, with further rounds of voting scheduled for 18, 19 and 20 June.

The new Conservative Party leader will also become the next UK prime minister

The final two candidates left in the race will then face another vote - this time by members of the Conservative party, of which there are around 130,000. These are people who have signed up to be official supporters of the party, and they do things like pay a membership fee and attend meetings at local and national level.

These members will then vote on the two remaining candidates to choose the winner. The person with the most votes becomes the new leader of the Conservative party.

This means they will also become prime minister, as the Conservatives are the party in government at the moment.