How many Conservative Party members are there who will vote for next Prime Minister?

The race to be the next Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party has been whittled down to two after Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt was eliminated from the contest. This leaves Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak as the final two MPs set to battle it out in the coming weeks.

Mr Sunak, the frontrunner throughout the parliamentary leg of the contest, received 137 votes in the final round of voting. Ms Truss won 113 votes, narrowly pushing Ms Mordaunt into third place on 105.

The remaining pair are set to go head-to-head in a live TV debate at 9pm on Monday, to be broadcast on BBC One. After more than a month of campaigning, the winner will be decided and a new Prime Minister expected to be announced on 5 September.

The winner of the contest will be decided by a vote amongst members of the Conservative Party. As of 2019, the party has 180,000 members, according to a social media post by then Party Chairman Brandon Lewis.

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There is no exact data for the current number of party members, as centralisation efforts on membership data have only got under way recently, and the party has chosen not to tell the Electoral Commission its exact membership figures. So roughly 180,000 Conservative Party members who will decide the next leader of the UK.

But how does one become a member and have their say on who becomes leader of the country?

Members of the public can join the Conservative party by signing up via the party website and paying an annual fee of £25 – or £2.09 per month – with discounts offered to members of the Armed Forces and those aged under 26. With this, members play an active role in the Party, are able to