How much time does it take to pick a new party leader under the Conservative Party's current rules? That is, if Cameron said tomorrow "I am resigning effective as soon a replacement is chosen", how long it would it take for the replacement to be chosen? Or would he actually need to create a vacancy first, thereby requiring a caretaker PM to take over for a while?
Michael Howard announced on the day after the 2005 general election that he was resigning; a leadership election then got underway and Howard formally stood down when the new Tory leader was elected.
Blair also did a similar thing in 2007; shortly after the 2007 local elections he stated that he'd be gone by late June.
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