United Kingdom: Prime Minister Boris Johnson's resignation on Thursday, a number of former and current UK government officials have already indicated their willingness to run in the leadership race. Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, ex-Health Secretary Sajid Javid, and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace are among the frontrunners to succeed BoJo.
Now that Boris Johnson has resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Conservative Party is expected to complete the two-stage leadership election process by October. Here's a closer look at how the process will progress.
Johnson announced his resignation as party leader on Thursday, adding that he intends to remain in office as prime minister until a successor is chosen, possibly until the autumn.
If such a plan fails, a caretaker prime minister could be appointed while the party leadership election is held. Former Conservative Prime Minister John Major insisted in a letter to the chair of the 1922 Committee, Graham Brady, that Johnson should not be allowed to stay at No. 10 as a caretaker prime minister over the summer.
The timeline for nominating candidates to replace Johnson will be announced next week. Senior Conservative officials hope to complete the two-stage contest before the Conservative Party's annual conference in October.
The 358 Conservative members of parliament are expected to narrow the nominees down to two during the first stage by holding successive rounds of voting in which the bottom candidate is eliminated each time. According to Bloomberg, the process of selecting the final two candidates should be completed by July 21 because that is when MPs go on vacation for the summer.
Tens of thousands of grassroots party members will vote in a secret ballot to determine the winner in the second stage, which is expected to be completed by September.
Potential Successors for PM's Chair
According to recent opinion polls, many senior MPs are expected to run for the leadership, with former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, and ex-Health Secretary Sajid Javid seen as favourites.
Following Johnson's resignation announcement, Chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Tom Tugendhat became the first Conservative MP to launch a leadership bid on Thursday. In a Daily Telegraph article, the Tory backbencher urged his party to "make government work for the people again" and "give them that fresh start." Attorney General Suella Braverman, Minister of State for Trade Policy Penny Mordaunt, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi all declared their intention to succeed BoJo.