London

The new UK Prime Minister replacing incumbent Boris Johnson will be announced on September 5.

This was announced by Graham Brady, Chairman of the Conservative Party's backbench 1922 Committee.

The committee, which runs the Tory leadership contest, has decided that the candidates will have to get the backing of 20 members of Parliament (MPs) when nominations open and close on Tuesday.

The threshold is markedly higher than the required backing of eight MPs seen in the party's usual rules.

The first round of voting among Tory MPs will be held on Wednesday. The contenders will need to receive 30 votes to enter the second ballot which is to be held on Thursday.

The number of contenders will be whittled down to two before MPs break up for the summer recess on July 21.

The final two contenders will then go through a postal ballot of all the Conservative members, numbering around 200,000, over the summer and the winner will become the new Tory leader and UK's next Prime Minister.

So far, 11 candidates have launched their bids to become the Conservative Party's next leader.

The Tory leadership race was triggered after Johnson was forced to resign on Thursday following many of his ministers quitting in protest against his scandal-hit leadership.

Johnson continues to serve as the caretaker Prime Minister until a new Tory leader succeeds him.

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He won a landslide victory in the general elections in 2019 but lost support after he was caught in a string of scandals including ‘Partygate’ and the appointment of a politician accused of sexual misconduct.