How Britain's Labour Party chooses a new leader

The following is a timetable for the Labour Party election for a leader and deputy leader. It will last seven weeks and the new Labour leader will become British Prime Minister.

Week 1

• Mr Blair announces intention to resign as Labour Party leader. Deputy leader John Prescott to leave at the same time.

• The party's National Executive Committee (NEC) meets within 72 hours to agree the start of the succession contest.

• Contenders for both posts have three parliamentary sitting days to get the backing of 45 members of Parliament (MPs), including themselves, to make it on to the ballot paper.

• A list of the "validly nominated candidates" is finalised.

Weeks 2-4

• Candidates gather nominations from parliamentarians, union representatives, grassroots organisations, giving an indication of levels of support. Each union member votes individually but union leaders may endorse a particular candidate for each post.

• Candidates attend hustings. It is expected there will be one in Scotland, one in Wales and three in England. If Mr Brown is the only contender to succeed Mr Blair, he still has to take part in the hustings events.

Weeks 5-6

• Ballot begins under a "one member one vote" system. It could take two weeks. Ballot papers are sent to the electoral college made up of three groups:

• 352 Labour MPs and 19 Labour members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

• Approximately 200,000 Labour Party members.

• Some 3.2 million members of affiliated trade unions who pay a political levy.

• Mr Brown will not have to face a vote, or an "affirmative ballot", if he is the only leadership candidate.

Week 7

• All ballot papers are returned.

• Labour calls a meeting of representatives of each third of the electoral college at a weekend to declare a winner. The winner must have received more than 50 per cent of the votes of the electoral college as a whole.

• If no candidate has a majority in the first ballot, further ballots will be held.

Blair departure

Mr Blair could stand down as Prime Minister at the end of June - after attending a summit of the Group of Eight industrialised nations and a European Union summit. His successor would then probably take over on July 2, leaving him nearly four weeks of parliamentary time before the summer recess starts on July 26.