Britain’s next Tory Prime Minister will be in place in just a WEEK - just in time for Halloween.
Liz Truss today resigned as Prime Minister after the pressure from her own party over weeks of chaos became too much to bear.
The Tory leader stepped down 44 days after entering 10 Downing Street after a shambolic week that saw two resignations from great offices of state.
New Chancellor Jeremy Hunt tore up £32billion of her tax cut plans and shredded her plan to cap the average energy bill at £2,500 a year. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked, Home Secretary Suella Braverman resigned and a Commons vote last night descended into chaos.
Tory members will vote on a new leader in a lightning-fast process which could see a new Prime Minister announced as soon as Monday.
1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady said the plan is for MPs to whittle down to a maximum of three candidates by Monday at 2pm. The new P
That means a new leader will be in place by by next Friday, October 28, in time for the fiscal plan - which was due to announce billions in spending cuts - on Monday 31 October.
A Treasury source confirmed the plan is still to hold the fiscal statement on October 31.
But ultimately whether it still contains Jeremy Hunt’s sweeping spending cuts will be up to the new Prime Minister.
And this chaotic change of leadership will ramp up furious calls for the Tories to let the country decide their leader in a general election.
Here's what we know so far or you can read about the most likely candidates including Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak here.
What are the Tory leadership election rules normally?
Usually a Tory leadership election takes a few months to complete. Tory MPs go through several rounds of voting to whittle down a field of about a dozen candidates to just two, to put to the membership of around 170,000.
The party membership then has a series of hustings over several weeks between the two finalists and chooses a winner who is then installed as party leader.
How will this leadership election work?
Nominations have opened, and MPs have this weekend to garner support from colleagues.
By the time nominations close at 2pm on Monday, they will need to have at least 100 MP nominees to get on the ballot paper.
There are 357 Tory MPs, so that means a maximum of three MPs will be able to get on the ballot paper.
What if three candidates get 100 nominees?
Conservative MPs will hold two ballots, both on Monday.
The first will be at 3.30pm on Monday with the result at 6pm. The candidate with the fewest MP supporters will be knocked out.
There will then be a second ballot at 6.30pm on Monday with the result at 9pm. This second ballot will only be indicative.
That means the result will not change who is on the ballot paper, but will signal to Tory members the candidate who MPs want.
172,000 Tory members will then vote online between two candidates in a sped-up ballot which closes at 11am on Friday 28 October. The new PM will be announced that day. Only people who have been Tory members for at least three months can vote.
What if two candidates get 100 nominees?
Conservative MPs will hold one "indicative" ballot at 3.30pm on Monday with the result at 6pm.
The result will not change who is on the ballot paper, but will signal to Tory members the candidate who MPs want.
172,000 Tory members will then vote online between two candidates in a sped-up ballot which closes at 11am on Friday 28 October. The new PM will be announced that day. Only people who have been Tory members for at least three months can vote.
What if only one candidate gets 100 nominees?
There will be no indicative ballot of MPs, no ballot of Tory members, and the winner will be "crowned" PM as early as Monday night or Tuesday morning.
Will two candidates definitely go forward to the membership?
Not necessarily. In 2017 Theresa May was 'crowned' PM because her rival Andrea Leadsom dropped out. Likewise, the 1922 Committee has set the threshold for MP nominations so high that it's possible only one candidate ends up going through - cutting out the membership.
Asked if there will definitely be two candidates going forward to the membership, Sir Graham replied somewhat unhelpfully: “The party rules say there will be two candidates, unless there is only one candidate.”
Will the October 31 fiscal statement go ahead?
New Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been drawing up sweeping spending cuts for an October 31 fiscal statement.
A Treasury source said this statement is still expected to go ahead, in order to steady the markets and prevent a further financial collapse.
But of course the choice of Chancellor is for the new Prime Minister and there's nothing forcing them to keep either Jeremy Hunt or his financial plans. So we don't know for sure.
Will there be a general election?
Pressure for one is enormous and growing. Since the Second World War, no party of government has changed their leader twice in a row without an election. The Mirror is calling for an election and so is Keir Starmer.
But legally speaking, calling an election is entirely within the gift of the next Prime Minister.
Technically they can wait until January 2025 at the latest before calling one - despite the anti-democratic nature of a Tory stitch-up for leader, and Labour's vast lead in the polls.
The one thing is if they lose a vote of no confidence in His Majesty's Government. But these are incredibly rare as Tory MPs tend to rally round their leader rather than let Labour into power.
