Monday 14 May-Thursday 17 May

Potential candidates to succeed Tony Blair as Labour leader or John Prescott as deputy leader have until 1230 BST on Thursday 17 May to submit their nominations. To get on to the ballot paper they must gain signatures from 45 Labour MPs, including their own.

Sunday 20 May

The first in a series of 10 official hustings across the UK takes place in Coventry.

Monday 28 May

All candidates in the contest must supply a photo and a statement supporting their candidacy of up to 250 words to the party. This will be sent out to people later, along with their ballot papers.

Friday 1 June

Deadline for anyone to join the Labour Party in time to be able to vote in the contests.

Wednesday 6 June

Ballot papers sent out to 380 Labour MPs and MEPs as well as 200,000 party members and 3.2m members of affiliated trade unions who pay a political levy. The voting system being used is a preference system, so people will rank candidates in their preferred order.

Friday 22 June

The ballot closes for the various parts of the electoral college. The electoral college refers to the fact that those voting are split into three sections each accounting for 33% of the final result - MPs and Euro MPs, Labour Party members, and affiliated unions.

Sunday June 24

The results of the leadership and deputy leadership ballots announced at a specially convened leadership conference in Manchester.

Sunday 24 June - Wednesday 27 June

Gordon Brown, or one of his rivals, becomes Labour leader but Tony Blair remains prime minister for three more days.

Wednesday 27 June

Tony Blair sees the Queen and resigns as prime minister, handing over his seals of office. His successor will then go to the Palace to be invited by the Queen to form a government and receive the seals of office - becoming prime minister at that moment.