THE exact date when Boris Johnson’s successor will be revealed has been outlined in secret Conservative plans.
A new Tory Prime Minister will be in place by September 5, according to the timetable which is expected to be approved by the 1922 Committee executive which will meet at 5pm on Monday.
The Conservative high command will be hoping to end the uncertainty caused by Mr Johnson’s resignation.
A senior party source told The Daily Telegraph that a new leader will be elected by the party’s members within two months – September 5.
Party officials are said to be concerned that more than 16 Tory MPs could stand in the leadership battle.
They are thought to be considering rushing through a rule chance to whittle down the list to just “serious candidates”.
It emerged on Friday that relatively obscure backbenchers in the party – Sir Bill Wiggin, John Baron and Rehman Chishti were considering leadership bids.
Read More on the Tory Battle
When asked why he was thinking about running, Mr Baron said: “I would be a newcomer to the contest… I will take soundings over the weekend.”
However, a senior party source told the paper: “There will be a threshold so that candidates below that threshold will not be allowed to continue.
“We want to reduce the field to serious candidates and if you can’t get a reasonable proportion of the party to support you, we don’t want grandstanders.”
Under the plans expected to be agreed by the ruling 1922 Committee and then the party board on Monday, nominations will close on Tuesday evening for any MP who wants to throw their hat in the ring.
Most read in The Sun
It had initially been thought that candidates would need the backing of 10 MPs.
But the 1922 Committee is looking to increase that number to 20.
The first load of voting is set to take place on Wednesday.
After then, any candidate with 35 MPs or less will drop out.
The second will take place on Thursday – knocking out another MP – before all remaining candidates are grilled by colleagues in private on July 18.
More rounds are set to take place on July 19 and July 20 – knocking out one more on each day.
The remaining two hopefuls are then voted for by members.
So far, Rishi Sunak, Tom Tugendhat, Suella Braverman, Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt, Grant Shapps and Nadhim Zahawi have announced their candidacy.
Liz Truss is expected to make her announcement on Monday and Penny Mordaunt is also expected to run.
“If you are in a position where you are not one of the favourites, the trick is to announce early and build up some momentum going into the ballot,” said one MP.
