LONDON
Britain will find out on Monday who the next leader of the Conservative Party will be, replacing Boris Johnson as prime minister, with the winner of the race to be announced shortly after midday.
Party members had been casting their votes until last Friday to choose their next leader after weeks of campaigning from both candidates, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Whoever wins will also be named the country’s next premier.
The party’s 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady will announce the winner at 12.30 British Summer Time (1130GMT), with the new leader expected to make a short speech at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London.
Foreign Secretary Truss is expected to win over Sunak as party chief and subsequently become the UK’s 56th prime minister — the third-ever woman to hold that position after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.
The winner is expected to make a short victory speech after the announcement of the result, but the new prime minister will be accepted by Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday to formally receive the duty to form a new government.
Buckingham Palace said the queen will receive outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the new prime minister at Balmoral Estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, after she was advised not to travel.
The new prime minister is expected to give a speech at 4 p.m. on Tuesday and formally move in to 10 Downing Street.
The Conservative leadership race was triggered after Johnson’s resignation on July 7 after many of his ministers resigned, declaring they would not like to continue working under him.
