Conservative leadership election: How the new PM will be picked

After Boris Johnson's decision to stand down as Conservative Party Leader, the rules have been announced for how the next prime minister (PM) will be picked.

The next PM will be elected by members of the Conservative Party around the country after the list of candidates is first whittled down by Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs).

The vote organisers - a group of MPs called the 1922 Committee - say the new person should be announced on 5 September 2022.

So far 11 people have put their names forward, but that could change. Read on to find out how the election will work.

Nominations

The last three Conservative Party leaders and PMs: (l-r) David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson

The nominations to be leader will open and close on Tuesday 12 July.

In order to stand for the top job, people need to have the support at this stage of at least 20 other MPs.

This is a big increase on the previous rules, and is believed to be a difficult bar for some candidates to reach at this point in the contest.

Voting rounds

To make it through the first round, that number of supporters will need to go up.

Voting will get under way on Wednesday 13 July, with candidates needing 30 backers to make it into the next round.

Candidates will need to have the support of at least 30 MPs to get through round one.

With a series of extra votes, the field will be whittled down to two finalists before the end of next week.

A winner will be picked from those final two in a postal vote of around 160,000 Conservative Party members over summer.