Westminster collapsed into chaos on Thursday as Liz Truss announced she was resigning as Tory leader.
Truss lasted just 44 days in office, making her the shortest serving prime minister in history.
The government’s death spiral means there must be another leadership contest to select the next Tory party leader and prime minister.
Just minutes after her resignation, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady announced the party would hold a contest to replace her within a week.
It follows complaints that the two-month contest to replace Boris Johnson over the summer paralysed government for too long.
Truss’s replacement will become their third leader in just two months. Brady held two brief press conferences on Thursday to explain how they would elect the next PM.
How It Will Work
Brady said the process should be concluded by Friday, October 28.
The hope is that a new prime minister would be in place in time for an important financial statement on October 31.
That crucial statement - on the following Monday - is intended to reassure the City that the government has a plan to repair the nation’s finances.
Truss will remain acting leader of the party until a successor is appointed.
Candidates to replace her will need at least 100 nominations from Conservative MPs - a considerably higher threshold than the start of the last election.
Nominations open Thursday night and will close at 2pm on Monday, October 24. There will be an indicative vote of MPs once there are two candidates.
The first ballot of MPs will then be held between 3.30pm and 5.30pm on Monday 24.
If there are three candidates, the candidate with the fewest number of votes will be eliminated.
The result will be announced at 6pm. If a second indicative vote is needed, this will be held between 6.30pm and 8.30pm on Monday. The result will be announced at 9pm.
Once the parliamentary process is completed, Conservative Campaign Headquarters will begin balloting the party membership - as long as two candidates remain.
The ballot of members will be conducted via secure online voting that will close at 11am on Friday 28 – the result will be announced later that day.
Only qualifying members, who have been a member for at least three months, can vote.
Brady told reporters that hustings for MPs would be held behind closed doors on Monday.
He said: “We’ve fixed a high threshold, but one that can be achievable by any serious candidate.
“We have no knowledge of who those candidates will be at the moment.”
Behind the scenes, Tory MPs have already started the horse trading ahead of the election.
For a run-through of who might throw their hat in the ring, follow our list of runners and riders.