UK PM race ends as voting closes

London, July 22 

Britain’s prime ministerial race concluded its final phase as voting closed on Monday evening for counting to begin before Theresa May’s successor is unveiled on Tuesday.

The frontrunner throughout the contest has been former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson as the Conservative Party's over 160,000 members up and down the UK filed in their postal votes to decide between him and the current Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

They had until 5 pm local time to ensure their ballot papers have been submitted in the election after which the counting process is set to begin, with the party's influential 1922 Committee in charge of the election of the new Tory leader who will take charge at Downing Street.

In terms of timeline, May will carry on as caretaker PM for a few days still as she is set to address her final Prime Minister's Questions session in the House of Commons on Wednesday after which she will head to Buckingham Palace to formally offer her resignation to Queen Elizabeth II. 

The 93-year-old monarch will then meet the newly-elected Conservative Party leader and invite him to form a new government. The new PM then traditionally makes a statement on the steps of 10 Downing Street before taking official charge before Parliament's summer recess is set to kick off from Friday until early September. — PTI

Minister quits

"The UK does so much good in the world. It is tragic that just when we could have been the dominant intellectual and political force throughout Europe, and beyond, we have had to spend every day working beneath the dark cloud of Brexit." —Alan Duncan, Junior Foreign Office Minister