A new Conservative leader, who will be the next prime minister, will be in place by Friday 28 October, the chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs has said.

Sir Graham Brady said they will be in the top job before the fiscal statement on 31 October.

Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation after she met Sir Graham and agreed for a leadership election “to be completed within the next week”.

Sunak favourite to be new PM as Truss resigns – live politics updates

This is what Sky News understands about how the process will unfold.

How does the Tory Party change leader?

In the last leadership election, a Tory MP needed to be nominated by eight colleagues to take part in the race.

If more than two MPs put themselves forward and secured enough nominations to run for leader, a series of ballots was held to whittle them down.

The individual who received the fewest votes each round was eliminated until two candidates remained – last time this was Ms Truss and Rishi Sunak.

When just two MPs were left, party members got to make their final choice of who will become Conservative Party leader and therefore prime minister.

However, the process typically takes several weeks and it remains unclear how the 1922 Committee will truncate it to meet the Friday deadline.

Sir Graham said there was an expectation Tory members would be involved in the process, but said: “I think we’re deeply conscious of the imperative in the national interest of resolving this clearly and quickly”.

Read more: Who could replace Liz Truss?

How many candidates will run?

Sir Graham was vague about how many candidates there would likely be.

“The party rules say there will be two candidates (being put to the Tory membership) unless there is only one candidate,” he said.

Asked what happens if one candidate drops out, Sir Graham said: “If there is only one candidate, there is only one candidate.”

Pressed on whose idea it was to truncate the process into one week, he said: “I think it’s a matter on which there is a pretty broad consensus”.

Sir Graham also said: “It certainly is not the circumstances I would wish to see.”

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Will the new leader call a general election?

The new leader would not be required to call a general election if they were able to command the confidence of the House of Commons, but could choose to do so to secure their own mandate.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has demanded a general election “now” so the nation can have “a chance at a fresh start”.

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Without one, the Conservatives would be on their third prime minister on the mandate won by Boris Johnson in December 2019.

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