The deadline for nominations to run for leader of the Conservative party has now passed, with the home secretary, Theresa May, and the justice secretary, Michael Gove, having declared themselves in the race.
The recently appointed work and pensions secretary, Stephen Crabb, Liam Fox, who resigned as defence secretary in 2011, and the former City minister Andrea Leadsom are also running.
Unlike the Labour party, which requires candidates to be nominated by 15% of its MPs, those wishing to run for the Tory leadership needed only a proposer and a seconder.
The race will start with a series of knockout rounds. Tory MPs will vote in successive rounds, with the candidate polling the lowest eliminated each time, until only two remain.
The first round of voting is on Tuesday. The subsequent rounds are due to follow on Thursday and the following Tuesday, by which point the parliamentary party should have whittled the choice down to the two candidates, though that could come earlier if one or more drops out early.
After that, the choice will be thrown out to approximately 150,000 Conservative members, who – unless there is a highly unlikely snap general election announcement in the intervening period – will effectively decide who the country’s next prime minister will be.
They will be asked to take part in a one member, one vote postal ballot that will close on 8 September, with the result announced the following day. The voting will be preceded by a series of hustings around the country, in which candidates will try to convince the membership that they are the person who should be handed the keys to No 10.
