The new Tory leader will be announced on Tuesday July 23, the party has confirmed.

Conservative Party members should receive postal votes between July 6 and 8 with the ballot closing at 5pm on Monday July 22.

Sources have suggested Theresa May will continue as PM until Wednesday July 24 to enable her to do a last Prime Minister’s Questions before going to see the Queen at Buckingham Palace to tender her formal resignation. Later that day, her successor will travel down the Mall to see Her Majesty, who will ask him to form a new government, before returning to Downing St for the first time to give the now mandatory lectern speech.

It is also expected that on Thursday July 25, the day Parliament rises for its summer recess, the new incumbent in No 10 will make a Commons statement and face MPs’ questions about his aims and ambitions for the country.