The fight to be next CON leader and PM: The race begins
We’ve just got details of the Conservative leadership contest. The plan is to start it immediately and have Cameron’s successor in place on September 2nd.
The process will be the same as the one used in the 2001 and 2005 elections. MPs will hold a series of ballot until a final short-list of two is agreed which will then go to the party’s 150k members.
Nominations will close on Thursday then MPs will vote every Tuesday & Thursday until a shortlist of two is agreed. That will then go to the members’ postal ballot. So the first results will come a week tomorrow.
The fact that this is being truncated is said to help Johnson because it will leave less time for an ABB (Anybody But Boris) to emerge.