Everyone wants to take their place, but there won't be more than three on the starting line.
Following the resignation of Prime Minister Liz Truss, the Conservative Party set this rule for the process of choosing its new leader.
"Candidates will need to have at least 100 colleagues (out of 357 Conservative MPs, editor's note) to sponsor them," Graham Brady, a majority official, told reporters.
These sponsorships must be collected by Monday 2:00 p.m. local time.
Then, the deputies will have to either agree on two names that the 170,000 members of the party will decide by an online vote by Friday, October 28, or on a single name which would then immediately enter Downing Street.
Sunak, Mordaunt, Braverman… or Johnson?
This process is much more selective than that following the resignation of Boris Johnson in July: eight candidates had been able to present themselves to the deputies, who had eliminated six of them, then the members had had six weeks to vote and decide between the two finalists.
"We have set the bar high but this bar is attainable by any serious candidate likely to win", explained Graham Brady.
No candidate has officially come forward yet.
Among the personalities expected are former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, unsuccessful candidate against Liz Truss, Minister Penny Mordaunt, former Interior Minister Suella Braverman, who resigned from the government on Wednesday, or Boris Johnson who, according to the Times is considering a return in the name of "the national interest".
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