What are the 1922 committee leadership rules?
Nominations should be submitted to Sir Graham Brady, the 1922 President, by: 18:00 today† The first hurdle is the lowest: each candidate must gain the support of 20 MPs – i.e. 18 MPs, one petitioner and one underling – to enter the race.
You can vote from Wednesday 13 July after the Prime Minister’s questions in one of the cavernous committee rooms in the committee corridor, and lasts from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm, with a result announced that early evening.
MPs put their ballots into the historic 1922 metal ballot box marked ‘CCO’, under the watchful eye of Sir Graham and other 1922 board members, who will ensure it is a fair vote. Proxy voting is allowed for those colleagues who cannot vote in person.
The bar to stay in the game is now getting higher. MPs with the support of less than 10 percent of the group – 36 MPs – will have to drop out.
The field gets thinner for the second round
MPs predict this will lead to frenzied horse trading on Wednesday evening and Thursday ahead of the day’s second round of voting.
Candidates who remain in the field will court rivals who have been forced to withdraw and seek their approval and hopefully the backing of MPs who had backed them.
Adding to the intrigue, the 1922 committee considers an early Wednesday night battle to give backbenchers a chance to grill their future leader.
The second ballot will take place on Thursday† July 14when the last placed leader contender will automatically drop out.
Could the rules be changed?
One idea that will be discussed in the 1922 committee Monday is to raise the threshold at which a candidate must withdraw from 10 percent to 15 percent, in order to shrink the candidate list more quickly.
After Thursday’s second vote, there will be a three-day break before MPs have a chance to grill the candidates about their policies on a “super Monday” of hustings.
Three series of hustings are planned for Monday 18 July – one by the 1922 commission and open to all Tory MPs, one by the 92 group of senior Tory MPs and one by the anti-woke Common Sense group.
The next voting rounds are scheduled for Tuesday 19 July when one or two ballots can be held, depending on the number of candidates remaining.
A The last voting day is scheduled for Wednesday 20 July.
Party bosses hope so no later than Thursday 21 July, two candidates remain in the process.
The confrontation begins
Conservative Central Office officials then take over, organizing a series of hustings at the party’s regional bases across the country so members can grill up the two remaining contenders.
The hustings – which were held in 2019 in places like Belfast, York, Darlington, Perth, Nottingham and Cardiff – will allow thousands of voting members to question the latter two.
Tory members are encouraged to: vote by mail for their choice to become leader at the end of August†
The winner will be announced on Monday 5 September†
The new Conservative leader and prime minister have two days to prepare for their first meeting with Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday 7 September†