When is the new Prime Minister announced? Who is the next Prime Minister? How is the UK Prime Minister selected?

The race to become the next leader of the Conservative Party, and the UK’s new prime minister, ended last Friday with the winner announced on Monday 5 September. Here’s everything you need to know.

[Update 06/09/22] It was announced that Liz Truss won the Tory leadership race on 5 September. Truss met the Queen at Balmoral the following Tuesday afternoon meaning she has now officially been appointed as the UK’s new prime minister.

The Conservative Party have voted on their two remaining leadership candidates.

Going head-to-head in the race for Prime Minister are current Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Undated file photos of Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak who have made it through to the final two in the Tory leadership race, with Penny Mordaunt eliminated from the contest after the final round of voting by MPs. Issue date: Wednesday July 20, 2022.

With only two remaining, Tory party members (roughly 180,000 people) have voted for their favourite.

When will the new Prime Minister be announced?

Britain’s new Prime Minister will be announced in Westminster at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre at 12.30 BST on Monday, September 5, 2022.

Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbench MPs, will announce the results of the Tory leadership vote.

The winner of the vote should then become PM by tomorrow on September 6.

The only way the general public could have known of a winner sooner is if one candidate forfeited the leadership contest, like what occurred in 2016 with Theresa May’s premiership.

How is the next Conservative leader selected?

Prime Ministers are selected via general elections held every five years.

Rather than directly voting for Britain’s leader, like the electoral system for US Presidency, the public chooses party members to represent their local constituency.

The party with the most constituencies wins the election and the leader of that party becomes the Prime Minister, under normal circumstances.

Party leaders are chosen internally in advance of a general election.

To join the race, a Conservative party member must be nominated by at least 20 of their colleagues.

Firstly, through a series of secret ballots, the MPs whittle potential candidates down. Candidates with the least votes are eliminated at each round until two remain.

In the second stage, card-carrying grassroots party members vote on these final two remaining candidates.

Who will be Britain’s next Prime Minister?

The Tories need a new leader for their party and due to Boris Johnson stepping down as PM the existing rules state that this leader therefore automatically becomes the new PM.

Conservative MP ballots have whittled down the contenders to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

The pair have battled it out over hustings across August for the support of Tory party members who have the final say in their success.

According to a report by The Economist, Truss is currently leading the race with an implied probability of 96.4%, while Sunak falls behind at 3.6%.

What’s next for the new Prime Minister?

After the new Tory leader is announced at Westminster today they will likely deliver a short acceptance speech (without accepting questions) which will be televised before addressing the Tories separately in Parliament.

The new Prime Minister will be invited to meet the Queen after Boris Johnson resigns, who will formally request they form a Government.

This ‘kissing hands’ (constitutional term) usually takes place at Buckingham Palace.

Traditionally, the newly appointed PM makes a speech outside Downing Street where they present their vision for office.

The newly appointed PM may deliver this speech after returning from their visit with the Queen on Tuesday.