It is a long and complicated process by which, if the current rules are confirmed, the Conservatives will have to choose a new leader who will then automatically become the new British Prime Minister. It is expected that it will last until next autumn, and until then Boris Johnsonwho today was forced by what he denounced as the ‘pack mentality’ of his party colleagues to step down as leader, said he intends to remain prime minister.
This is the choice that resigning premieres usually make, but there are several conservative figures who are uncomfortable with the idea that Johnson will remain for weeks, if not months, in Downing Street. Like former premier John Major who says it would be wise for vice premier Dominic Raab to become interim prime minister. Or that the rules for the election of the new leader be changed and simplified, to speed up times.
The current rules state that the support of at least 8 deputies is required to run for leadership. Once all the candidates have been announced, if there are more than two, a series of eliminatory votes will start.
In the first round, candidates must get at least 5% of the votes – now equal to 18 deputies – to stay in the game. On the second, the percentage doubles to 10% of the votes, that is 36 deputies. In subsequent rounds, the candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated from time to time. So until there are only two candidates left.
At this point, all the members of the Conservative party, not just the deputies, will participate in the election to choose the new leader, who will automatically also become the new premier.
It is the now famous 1922 Committee, the party commission that manages the election of the leader, that decides the timetable for all votes and which also has the power to change the rules for the election before the process is started.
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