Conservatives Plan Leadership Debates in All 12 U.K. Regions

(Bloomberg) -- The final two candidates vying to become the U.K.’s next prime minister will hold a series of head-to-head hustings across the country, senior Conservative Party officials said.

The next Tory leader is due to be chosen by the week of July 22, but this timetable could be accelerated if some of the candidates drop out sooner than planned, according to officials on the party’s 1922 Committee.

The election is in two parts. The first stage involves the party’s members of Parliament who will whittle down the field of candidates in a series of votes. When only two contenders remain, they will go forward to a ballot of the party’s 160,000 grassroots members across the U.K.

At a briefing for journalists in London, two MPs on the 1922 Committee executive -- which oversees the election process -- said hustings are being planned in all 12 regions of the country. The details have not yet been finalized.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs

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