The race is officially underway to choose the new leader of the UK's governing Conservative Party - and the country's next Prime Minister.
ADVERTISEMENTThe race is officially underway to choose the new leader of the UK’s governing Conservative Party – and the country’s next Prime Minister.
Five candidates have officially declared their wish to stand for selection.
However, the best-known and most hotly anticipated has shocked the country by announcing he will not stand.
Boris Johnson made the announcement two hours after his fellow pro-Brexit campaigner, Justice Minister Michael Gove, surprised commentators by announcing his own intention to stand.
How many candidates will compete for the Conservative Party leadership?
Five.
They are:
Theresa May
Michael Gove
Andrew Leadsom
Stephen Crabbe
Liam Fox ### Theresa May
59
Eurosceptic ### Michael Gove
48
Brexit ally of Boris Johnson ### Stephen Crabb
43
Work and Pensions Minister
Joint ticket with Enterprise Minister Sajid David ### Liam Fox
54
Former Defence Minister
Resigned in 2011 over conflict of interest inquiry ### Andrea Leadsom
53
Energy Secretary ### Fact check
Theresa May is favourite to win the Conservative leadership election, according to bookmaker William Hill.
Michael Gove is in second place while Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom is in third.
The odds
- Theresa May – 4/7
- Michael Gove – 3/1
- Andrea Leadsom – 5/1 ### In tweets
Theresa May, favourite to be next PM, vows to honour #Brexit vote: https://t.co/XlVP52b85dpic.twitter.com/sq5IQnVBfV
— Reuters Top News (
Reuters) <a href="https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/748484090379239424">June 30, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </p> <p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"align="center"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Michael Gove surprises everyone by ditching Boris Johnson to run for UK prime minister <a href="https://t.co/YHcutRpg9W">https://t.co/YHcutRpg9W</a> <a href="https://t.co/jF1SOd4iIf">pic.twitter.com/jF1SOd4iIf</a></p>— POLITICO Europe (POLITICOEurope) June 30, 2016
EXCL: Stephen Crabb and Sajid Javid in talks about running as a blue collar ‘dream team’ to stop Boris being PM;https://t.co/5G9C1494Zc
— Tom Newton Dunn (
tnewtondunn) <a href="https://twitter.com/tnewtondunn/status/747540579047845888">June 27, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </p> <p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"align="center"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Former UK defense secretary Liam Fox to run for Tory Party leadership to succeed Cameron <a href="https://t.co/reE9XnI02r">https://t.co/reE9XnI02r</a> <a href="https://t.co/oNQ7or9UQQ">pic.twitter.com/oNQ7or9UQQ</a></p>— POLITICO Europe (POLITICOEurope) June 29, 2016
Leave campaigner Andrea Leadsom throws her hat in the ring in the Tory Leadership race https://t.co/WAEpNsJMovpic.twitter.com/IN9FTyN3La
— LBC (@LBC) June 30, 2016
How will the winner be chosen?
Only two candidates can compete for the leadership.
Five have put themselves forward so the two ultimate candidates will have to be selected from this initial list.
The first round of voting will take place next Tuesday.
The eventual winner will become leader of the Conservative Party and the next UK Prime Minister.
Boris Johnson pulls out of race
The former mayor of London, Boris Johnson, shocked the worlds of politics and media this morning by announcing his withdrawal from the selection process.
The 52-year-old, who led the main “Leave” campaign in the run-up to last week’s EU referendum in the UK, had been favourite to win.