According to party representatives, the next Conservative leader and UK Prime Minister will be announced on September 5, 2012.
Eleven candidates have been identified as possible replacements for Boris Johnson, who resigned last week after a rebellion among his Cabinet and MPs.
In order to eliminate excessive candidates, progression in the leadership contest was made more difficult.
The 1922 backbench commission, which is responsible for organizing leadership contests, has ruled candidates will now require twenty nominations by fellow Conservative MPs to be eligible to stand. To be eligible for the contest, they must gather this support by 18.00 BST tomorrow. At the last contest, eight nominations were necessary.
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To be eligible for the second round, candidates will need to have at least thirty votes from their fellow MPs. This is an increase from the previous 18 votes.
Two final candidates will be left from the current eleven by the end next week. This will be done through successive voting rounds conducted by Conservative MP’s.
A postal ballot will be used to select the winner from around 160,000 party members.
The current ‘favourite’, with the highest amount of support among MPs is currently Rishi Sunak. Mr Sunak is followed by Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt and then backbencher Tom Tugendhat, who some have described as the “dark horse” of the contest.
Each candidate has attracted the twenty supporters necessary to get on the ballot.
ConservativeHome found that Minster of Trade Penny Mourdaunt was the front-runner in a survey. Former Minister for State Kemi Badenoch was close behind. Rishi Sunak, who currently holds the highest support from MPs, is in third place.
All remaining candidates can still apply for the ballot until 18.00 BST today. It is believed that Priti Patel, Home Secretary, is still considering whether or not to run.
The issue of taxation has dominated the contest thus far, with almost all candidates promising to cut personal or business taxes or both. Rishi Sunak has not made such pledges, and accused his rivals of “fairytale” economic promises.
During a speech in Gateshead yesterday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer criticised the leadership candidates for their tax pledges, accusing them of entering an “arms race of fantasy economics” and “hypocrisy”, as they supported the tax hikes that were introduced under Boris Johnson.
