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Tory leadership contest: Timeline of how and when the new prime minister will be announced

The process of announcing a new leader will be different from previous years

Jon Stone
Policy Correspondent
,Matt Mathers
Monday 05 September 2022 04:01 EDT
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Voting in the Tory leadership contest concluded on Friday 2 September, with polls suggesting Liz Truss is the favourite to become prime minister, beating Rishi Sunak.

The eight-week contest saw a total of 12 official hustings events, with Mr Sunak and Ms Truss touring the country to take part.

Over the weekend, at last, the ballots were counted, with only the 160,000 or so members of the Conservative Party allowed to vote their say on the country’s next leader.

Here's a timeline of what happens next as the new PM is unveiled.

Unusual circumstances mean that some of the details will this time be handled differently to what has become customary.

Monday 5 September

Sir Graham Brady, the chair of parliament’s 1922 committee
Sir Graham Brady, the chair of parliament’s 1922 committee (Victoria Jones/PA)

The winner of the Tory leadership contest will be announced at 12.30pm today from Westminster.

The event will be covered live by The Independent across our platforms.

MPs are also returning from their summer recess on Monday, with Parliament expected to sit from 2.30pm.

Tuesday 6 September

Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral
Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral (Getty)

Tomorror, Boris Johnson will be received by the Queen at Balmoral as his final engagement as prime minister, where he will formally offer his resignation.

This will be the first time the 96-year-old Monarch has received a PM's resignation from Scotland.

She traditionally does this at Buckingham Palace but is currently at her residence in the Highlands for her summer break.

Later that same day, Ms Truss or Mr Sunak – whoever wins – will also meet with her.

Usually an outgoing PM and their successor make an address from Downing Street to make their departure and arrival.

It remains to be seen whether this will happen this time, however, given they will be in Scotland.

Ms Truss or Mr Sunak will then begin making appointments to their Cabinet once they have met with Her Majesty and been confirmed as PM.

Wednesday 7 September

Sir Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Starmer (AFP/Getty)

The new PM will make then their first appearance in the House of Commons in on Wednesday.

They will face Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions at noon.

The winner, Ms Truss or Mr Sunak, will meanwhile be moving into Downing Street this week and take up a salary of £75,440 on top of their MPs’ wages of £84,144.

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