Tory leadership rules announced Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee, has announced the rules for the Conservative leadership contest. Nominations will open and close tomorrow. First ballot on Wednesday. Second ballot on Thursday. 20 supporters will be needed for each candidate. On the first ballot, any candidate to proceed must win 30 votes from Tory MPs. The winner will be announced on 5 September. Summary Tory leadership candidates will need support from 20 fellow MPs to be included in the first round of voting, with nominations opening and closing tomorrow. The first ballot is on Wednesday, with candidates needing 30 votes from Tory MPs, and the second ballot is on Thursday. The winner of the leadership contest will be announced on 5 September ConservativeHome polling has found that Penny Mordaunt is in first place among Tory members to be the next PM, followed by Kemi Badenoch. Education unions have written to the newly appointed education minister, Andrea Jenkyns, warning that her use of an obscene gesture and her excuses since would be unacceptable from a pupil or member of staff. The Conservative MP Jamie Wallis has been disqualified from driving for six months and fined £2,500 after being found guilty of failing to stop, failing to report an accident and leaving the vehicle in a dangerous position, after crashing his car and fleeing the scene. When asked whether the threshold is too high for lesser-known candidates to reach, Sir Graham Brady denied that this is the case. He added: “We do need to make sure there’s a decent period of time before the result is announced on September 5. We need to make sure there’s a reasonable chance for the party and the country to meet and question the candidates at regional candidates.” Tom Tugendhat now claims to now have 20 endorsements from MPs supporting his bid to become leader. Tory leadership rules announced Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee, has announced the rules for the Conservative leadership contest. Nominations will open and close tomorrow. First ballot on Wednesday. Second ballot on Thursday. 20 supporters will be needed for each candidate. On the first ballot, any candidate to proceed must win 30 votes from Tory MPs. The winner will be announced on 5 September. More from Aubrey Allegretti on the rumours of the threshold being 20... The Telegraph reports that Suella Braverman, a Conservative leadership hopeful, has told her fellow Tory MPs “don’t vote for me because I’m brown” but because of her clear vision to cut taxes. The Telegraph’s Christopher Hope reports: The Attorney General also set out her vision as prime minister at a meeting of the reconstituted Conservative Way Forward, a Thatcherite thinktank. Speaking alongside fellow Conservative leadership rival Nadhim Zahawi at the Churchill War Rooms, Ms Braverman made her pitch to 60 Tory activists and rightwing Conservative MPs. She said: “Don’t vote for me because I’m a woman. Don’t vote for me because I’m brown. “Vote for me because I love this country and would do anything for it. “Vote for me because I have a clear vision and have experience working at the top of Government. But most of all, vote for me because I’m a Conservative.” Jessica Elgot has written an analysis of the lengths some Tory leadership hopefuls are going to in order to smear their rivals. The propaganda flying around includes lurid rumours of affairs, business dealings and questionable tax statuses. Not all would meet the public interest test. Those who have faced planted attacks so far include the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, but there are also expected to be coordinated efforts to undermine the campaigns of Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. The ipaper’s Paul Waugh also saying that 20 Conservative MPs will be the threshold for appearing on the ballot. New Conservative Home polling has found that Penny Mordaunt is in first place among Tory members to be the next PM, followed by Kemi Badenoch. Rishi Sunak is in third place, Suella Braverman fourth, Liz Truss fifth and Tom Tugendhat sixth Sally Weale reports that education unions have written to the newly appointed education minister, Andrea Jenkyns, warning that her use of an obscene gesture and her excuses since would be unacceptable from a pupil or member of staff. Jenkyns, Conservative MP for Morley and Outwood, was widely criticised after she was pictured raising her middle finger at a crowd gathered at the entrance to Downing Street on the day of Boris Johnson’s announcement that he was to step down as prime minister. In a subsequent statement, Jenkyns said she had received “huge amounts of abuse” and seven death threats in the past four years and was just standing up for herself. She added: “I should have shown more composure, but am only human.” The joint letter from Unison, the Association of School and College Leaders, the National Association of Head Teachers and the National Education Union, published on Monday, expressed grave concern at her actions and its likely impact on standards in schools.