New UK premier to be announced on Sept. 5

LONDON

The next leader of the Conservative Party, and in turn the prime minister of the UK, will be announced on Sept. 5, according to the head of the party’s backbench 1922 Committee.

Sir Graham Brady also said that the final two candidates will be decided before parliament breaks for summer recess.

Eleven Conservative MPs have thrown their hat in the ring so far, which is a high number.

The Conservatives are also eager for a quick contest to get Boris Johnson out of Downing Street as soon as possible, having already forced him to announce that he would resign as Conservative party leader and prime minister.

To this end, the committee announced that the minimum threshold to get through to the first round has been increased from eight to 20 nominations from their fellow Conservative MPs. They will need at least 30 votes to get through the second round.

Nominations will open and close on Tuesday, July 12. MPs will then vote on Wednesday and Thursday to pick the final two candidates who will face off against each other.

At this point, the vote will open up to the Conservative Party membership after a series of debates and internal campaign events.

Brady told local media: "What we tried to do is find a balance where we're making sure the parliamentary stages are concluded reasonably rapidly before the summer recess.

"But we do believe we can have that discussion within the party. Obviously, we know parliamentary candidates are running within these elections and make sure there is a decent amount of time before the result is announced on the fifth of September.

"We need to make sure there's a reasonable amount of time for the party membership in the country to have a chance to meet, question the candidates at regional hustings.”