Following meetings of the 1922 Executive Committee and the Conservative Party Board, the rules on how the Conservative Party leadership contest will proceed have been agreed.

Rishi Sunak has formally stepped down as Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party and will remain as Acting Leader until a successor is elected. The announcement of the new leader will take place on Saturday November 2nd.

Candidates will need a proposer, a seconder and 8 nominations to proceed to the ballot.

Nominations will open on Wednesday 24^th July at 7pm and will close on Monday 29^th July at 2:30pm.

In September, the Parliamentary Party will narrow the field down to four candidates.

Those four will then make their case to Party Members at Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham (29^th September to 2^nd October).

After Conference, the parliamentary party will then whittle it down to the final two candidates, who will then be subject to a vote by Conservative Party members.

As Chairman of the 1922 Committee, Bob Blackman MP will be acting as the returning officer in this leadership election.

Once the parliamentary process is completed, the Party Board will assume responsibility for the administration of the vote of the Conservative Party membership.

Only members who have been a Party member for 90 days or more immediately prior to the ballot closing, and have been an active member at the time of the nominations for candidates opening, will be eligible to vote.

The ballot of qualified members will be conducted via secure online voting and it will close on Thursday 31^st October at 5pm.

The result will be announced on Saturday 2^nd November.

Individual member voting rights will be communicated directly via email to members in due course. Please do not contact the CCHQ Membership Team for voting rights enquiries – a dedicated email address will be made available for such enquiries.