Next Conservative leader and PM to be unveiled by 5 September

The next Conservative leader and UK prime minister will be announced on 5 September, party bosses have announced.

The nomination threshold to stand in the contest has been raised from 8 to 20 MPs, in an effort to quickly narrow the field of candidates.

Contenders will have until the end of play on Tuesday to find supporters and get on the ballot.

Tory MPs will then whittle the field down to two final candidates in successive rounds of voting.

Around 160,000 Conservative party members will then decide the winner in a postal and email ballot.

The first round of voting will take place on Wednesday, with candidates needing the support of at least 30 MPs to get into the next round.

Eleven candidates have come forward so far in the race to replace Boris Johnson, who resigned last week after a revolt among his MPs and ministers.

The contender with the most declared supporters among MPs is currently former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, followed by Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt and backbencher Tom Tugendhat.

Other candidates could still enter the race, with Home Secretary Priti Patel believed to be weighing up whether to run.

The contest so far has been dominated by the issue of taxation, with nearly all of the candidates pledging cuts to personal or business taxes, or both.