Boris Johnson has now confirmed he is resigning as Prime Minister after finally admitting defeat following the mass exodus from his Government.

He has announced his exit from Number 10 after a dramatic 48-hour period in which a torrent of ministers resigned. Here is what happens next:

 An interim PM will be named – could it be Boris Johnson?

The timetable for a Conservative leadership contest is expected to result in a successor being in place for the party’s conference in October.

But Mr Johnson is intending to stay in No 10 until the process is complete. And this  has raised the prospect of Mr Johnson remaining as Prime Minister for a number of weeks yet while a leadership contest takes place.

But, following the events of the last 48 hours, he is already facing pushback against this plan.

 If not Boris, then who?

Dominic Raab, as Deputy Prime Minister, would appear to be the obvious choice to take over from Mr Johnson for an interim period while a permanent replacement is chosen.

He already has experience of being at the helm after he deputised for Mr Johnson when the PM was in intensive care with Covid.

There are already calls for Mr Raab to take over from Mr Johnson as swiftly as possible.

 Will Boris go to see the Queen?

If someone other than Mr Johnson is handed the reins of power on an interim basis, this would need to be done formally. Mr Johnson would go to Buckingham Palace to officially resign as Prime Minister in front of the Queen. He would then recommend his successor – whether that be Mr Raab on an interim basis or someone else. But, if Mr Johnson is allowed to stay on for a few more weeks while a new Tory leader is chosen, he would not need to make a trip to the Palace until later this summer.

 Tory leadership contest begins

Mr Johnson’s resignation has fired the starting gun on a Tory leadership contest, with some contenders having already been jostling for weeks. A Conservative leadership election takes place in two stages, with a timescale for each announced by the 1922 Committee.

It begins by candidates putting their own names forward. All Tory MPs then vote in a series of rounds  to whittle down the candidates.

In the first two rounds, the candidates who don’t meet a certain threshold of votes are eliminated.

For all subsequent ballots, the candidate who comes last is eliminated, until there are only two candidates remaining.

In the second stage of the leadership contest, the wider Tory party membership is balloted to choose between the final two candidates.

How long will it take to choose a new Tory leader?

Due to the circumstances, the Conservative Party is likely to want a swift contest. But the requirement for leadership hustings ahead of a ballot of the wider Tory membership means it is still set to take a number of weeks.

In 2019, the contest began with the opening of nominations on 10th June. Mr Johnson was then named the eventual victor almost six weeks later on 23rd July.

 Who will replace Boris Johnson

A Conservative leadership race is already under way, with a number of MPs publicly declaring that they want to be the next leader or that they are seriously considering running.

A clear heir-apparent has yet to emerge. Here we set out the potential successors;

Ben Wallace

The defence secretary jumped to the fore as the bookies’ favourite, prompted by a YouGov poll that showed he was the first choice of among Conservative party members who were asked over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday who they would want to see as the next leader. Wallace has also been at the top of ConservativeHome polls of members’ favourite cabinet ministers on account of his handling of the war in Ukraine and the evacuation from Afghanistan.

Until now he has had a relatively low public profile, but Tory MPs say his popularity may have begun to make him consider a bid.

Rishi Sunak

The former chancellor’s leadership hopes were badly dented earlier this year but he may have re-energised his leadership hopes by his bold move on Tuesday to quit the cabinet. Long-regarded as a favourite to replace Johnson, Sunak’s profile took a hit from Partygate – he received a fixed-penalty notice – and from the potentially more damaging controversy over his family’s financial affairs. That episode sent his popularity plummeting after he had built a strong public profile.

Penny Mordaunt

The former defence secretary rocketed to the fore on Tuesday evening with bookmakers Coral installing her as the favourite to replace Johnson. However, amid a torrent of resignations over the past 48 hours, her decision to remain as international trade minister has raised eyebrows. In an apparent move to deflect criticism, Mordaunt broke her silence on Thursday morning to tweet that Wallace was “absolutely correct” when he said that “the public would not forgive us if we left these offices of state empty”.

Liz Truss

The foreign secretary was quick out of the traps to declare her support for Johnson after the departures of Javid and Sunak. She was in fourth place – with a considerable gap between her and Wallace – in this week’s YouGov poll of who Tory party members want to see as their new leader. The move to get behind Johnson was seen as an attempt to shore up potential support from other Johnson loyalists. Truss remains a frontrunner. She has been busy burnishing her public profile with Instagram shots and channelling Margaret Thatcher by wearing a headscarf while driving a tank.

Jeremy Hunt

Despite long enjoying a profile as the bookies’ favourite to replace Johnson, the man who beat him in the last Tory leadership election, the former health secretary’s odds have lengthened. He has frequently been talked about as the “safe pair of hands” replacement for Johnson, but in the wake of the moves by Javid and Sunak, a lack of boldness on the part of Hunt may now be more apparent than ever.

Nadhim Zahawi

The Tory MP, a multi-millionaire married father-of-three, went from being Boris Johnson’s saviour to his assassin in the space of a day amid claims he has been secretly preparing his leadership campaign for months with the help of the PM’s own election guru. Mr Zahawi joined other former loyalists at No 10 in trying to persuade Mr Johnson to quit. He is now one of the favourites to replace Boris Johnson.

Glee in Russia, sadness in Ukraine as Boris quits

Boris Johnson’s downfall has been met with delight and ridicule in Moscow. Russian foreign ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova told reporters Mr Johnson had been “hit by a boomerang launched by himself”, adding that the moral of the story was “do not seek to destroy Russia”.

But Ukraine struck the opposite tone: the presidency thanked the politician for his support in “the most difficult of times”, according to news agency AFP.

Credit: bbc.com