Prime Minister's Questions LIVE: Keir Starmer to face Rishi Sunak in first Commons showdown since election victory - after suspending seven Labour rebels who voted to scrap two-child benefit cap

Under plans drawn up by the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs and the party board, nominations for the new party leader will open on Wednesday evening and close in the afternoon on July 29.

The parliamentary party will then narrow the field down to four, who will make their case at the Conservative Party Conference, which runs from September 29 to October 2.

The final two, picked by the parliamentary party, will then be voted on by Conservative Party members in an online ballot that will close on October 31. The result will be announced on November 2.

Bob Blackman (pictured), chairman of the 1922 Committee, said he was determined that the leadership debate be 'respectful and thorough' and warned against the contest descending into 'personal attacks'.

One of the seven Labour MPs suspended for rebelling over the two-child benefit cap last night has suggested she was the victim of a 'macho virility test'.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stripped Zarah Sultana and six others of the whip for backing an SNP motion which would have amended the King's Speech Bill to abolish the welfare limit.

On Wednesday, Sir Keir faces his first Prime Minister's Questions since entering No 10, amid backbench unease over the move.

Ms Sultana said she 'slept well knowing that I took a stand against child poverty' after being handed the six-month suspension.

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, ex-business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne and Imran Hussain have also been kicked out of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

James Cleverly, the first Tory leadership hopeful to declare his candidacy, has said that the party needs to expand its base of support and shake off the impression that it is more focused on infighting than serving the public.

There will potentially be a crowded field in the contest as nominations open on Wednesday in the race to replace Rishi Sunak, with a winner to be announced on November 2.

Former home secretary Mr Cleverly told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that his party has been 'the most successful political movement, I think, in human history.'

But recent achievements, which he listed as including stabilising the economy and supporting Ukraine, were overshadowed by 'a number of negatives', he said.

Keir Starmer is already struggling to keep a lid on furious Labour infighting today as he faces his maiden PMQs grilling.

Sir Keir will take to the despatch box at noon having been defied by seven MPs in a vote on the two-child cap on benefits, just a fortnight after securing his historic landslide.

But the premier's brutal response of suspending the group - including prominent left-wingers John McDonnell, Richard Burgon and Rebecca Long Bailey - sparked an outcry in his own ranks.

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Sir Keir Starmer is to face his first PMQs as Prime Minister in the House of Commons this lunch time.

The Labour Leader will take part in the weekly session from the government benches for the first time after his party's landslide victory in the election on July 4.

He will face former PM Rishi Sunak at the dispatch box, hours after shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly became the first to publicly declare he is running for his boss's job.

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline's politics live blog. We'll be bringing you all the action from the House of Commons and Conservative leadership race throughout the day.