Rishi Sunak has emerged as the frontrunner in the race to become the UK's next prime minister, after Boris Johnson announced he was not standing.
Many of Mr Johnson's supporters were caught by surprise at his abrupt withdrawal. Essex MP James Duddridge, who gave the first indication that Mr Johnson was intending to run in the Tory leadership race, simply tweeted: "Well that was unexpected. Off to bed!"
Of the Tory MPs who have gone public with who they are backing, 167 have supported Mr Sunak and 26 have supported Ms Mordaunt. "We're confident of getting to 100 before the deadline of two o'clock and putting to colleagues that the case that Penny is the person best positioned to unify the party," he told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.
"The Tories are about to hand Rishi Sunak the keys to the country without him saying a single word about how he would govern," she said. "No one voted for this. In his statement withdrawing from the contest, Mr Johnson said a general election would be "a further disastrous distraction when the government must focus on the economic pressures faced by families across the country", but said he was the person "uniquely placed to avert [one]".
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