Ms May will likely be elected unopposed to the Conservative party leadership, subject to her formal confirmation by the Conservative party board and chairman of the Tory 1922 committee.

After her appointment she will almost certainly be appointed Prime Minister by Tory MPs, who have a majority in the House of Commons.

Ms May had been the favourite in the Tory leadership contest, which was originally due to conclude in early September.

Tory MP Graham Brady, who chairs the 1922 committee, said he was “already in discussions” about Ms May`s confirmation.

Asked how long it would take for the process to complete he was vague, but suggested it would be significantly accelerated. He did not rule out Ms May becoming Prime Minister by the end of the day.

“It won`t be nine weeks, let`s be very clear about that. But I think we need to get the clear views of the Conservative party board they quite properly need to be consulted, but I will make a statement as soon as I am in a position to confirm formally the new leader of the party,” he said.

Responding to criticism that the new Prime Minister had been chosen without even an internal party election, Mr Brady said:

“The process is very simple, we had two candidates, one of them clearly had much stronger support in the parliamentary party, but crucially the other candidate has chosen to withdraw from the contest. I received Andrea Leadsom setting out her reasons for that.”

More about: