And so it begins.

With the pool of candidates whittled down to the final two – Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss – the race is now on for both would-be PMs to gain the support of Tory party members up and down the country.

The day of judgement – when we’ll all be put out of our misery – is set for 5 September. Until then, Sunak and Truss will find themselves in a whirlwind of media and hustings, as they look to win the votes of the membership.

Despite Sunak surging to victory in the parliamentary stages of the contest, the polls suggest that Truss could take the crown, with a YouGov poll of Tory party members on Tuesday indicating that Sunak would lose to both Truss and Penny Mordaunt when it came down to the member vote.

The next stage of the contest will kick off on Monday 25 July, with a live TV debate hosted by the BBC. The debate will see Sunak and Truss face off in front of a live studio audience in Stoke-on-Trent.

Following this debate, the two hopefuls will clash again a week later, as they meet for a second debate hosted by Sky News’ Kay Burley on Thursday 4 August.

The BBC is also set to broadcast a programme called “Our Next Prime Minister: The Interviews,” which will see both candidates interrogated by the BBC’s Nick Robinson.

Alongside these media appearances, Sunak and Truss will be heading around Britain to state their case in front of Tory party members at a series of 12 hustings, which will also be live streamed on the Conservative party website.

Beginning in Leeds on 28 July, the candidates will then head to Exeter, Cardiff, Eastbourne, Darlington (which, for Sunak’s benefit, is in England), Cheltenham, Perth, Northern Ireland, Manchester, Birmingham and Norwich, before ending up in London for the final hustings on 31 August.

From 1 August, some 200,000 Tory members will receive ballot packs in the post, and then have until 5pm on 2 September to submit their ballot to the party – either by post or online. Members will be able to cast two votes, with the most recent vote counted.

The new leader will be announced on 5 September, and will take office the next day, as Boris Johnson makes his way to Buckingham Palace to hand his resignation to the Queen.