Just five candidates remain in the Conservative Party leadership race following Thursday’s second round of voting.
Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, attorney general Suella Braverman, ex-health secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt and transport secretary Grant Shapps have already dropped out after failing to amass the support needed.
That leaves ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak as the front-runner to replace Boris Johnson, the very man whose resignation last week marked the beginning of the end for the scandal-hit prime minister.
Junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt, foreign secretary Liz Truss, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat make up the rest of the pack.
The contest now reaches its TV debate stage, with the surviving quintet squaring up three times in five days to thrash out their policy positions on key areas of national concern such as the cost of living crisis, the war in Ukraine and the recent resurgence of coronavirus.
The first clash takes place this evening (Friday 15 July) and will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 7.30pm, running for 90 minutes and hosted by anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
The second, on Sunday 17 July, will be broadcast on ITV at 7pm and run for an hour, with more details expected from the broadcaster soon. It will also be available on the ITV Hub.
The third and final session takes place on the evening of Tuesday 19 July by which point further candidates will have been eliminated after a further round of voting on Monday.
This last instalment will be aired on Sky News at 8pm and mediated by Kay Burley.
The Independent will cover all three debates live on our site, bringing you all the latest breaking news updates.
They will also be broadcast as they happen on the channels concerned and on YouTube.
