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Following the Conservative Party’s general election defeat, Rishi Sunak announced he would resign as leader “as soon as decisions are formally made about the selection of my successor”.

How then can the next leader be chosen?

Committee 1922

The governing body for the Conservative Party leadership race is a committee of MPs, the 1922 Committee.

This week, Conservative Party MPs elected a new leader – Bob Blackman.

Decisions can now be made about the timing and course of the leadership contest, although it is unclear when this will happen.

Rishi Sunak’s role

As it stands, the former prime minister remains party leader and leader of the opposition. He has appointed a shadow cabinet and will fulfill the constitutional requirements of that role – for now.

Mr Sunak could agree to remain as party leader until a permanent successor is named, in which case he would continue to serve as leader of the opposition, including facing Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions.

He may, however, resign from his position before the end of the contest, something he apparently hinted at in his resignation speech.

This would mean having to elect a temporary leader (this could be Oliver Dowden, who is acting as temporary deputy leader, or Conservative MPs could elect someone else entirely).

Will party members have a say?

There is broad agreement among Conservative MPs that members should be able to vote on the party’s new leader.

Short vs. Long

Some Conservatives have proposed keeping the contest short so that the new leader can challenge the Labour government as soon as possible, especially when they deliver their first budget in the autumn.

The new chairman of the 1922 committee told Sky News his colleagues had expressed a “wide range of views” – but a consensus was emerging that a long leadership battle was the right solution and would ensure a full debate on the direction the party should take.

This could mean that nominations for the new leader would not open for several weeks, and then MPs could narrow down the number of candidates – or not at all, with members being able to choose from a range of candidates.

There have been suggestions that the contest should not end before the party conference in early October, as it did in 2005 when David Cameron won, so that candidates could actually audition in front of party members.