Boris Johnson has pulled out of the Conservative leadership race.
Mr Johnson had the public backing of 59 Tory MPs but had to reach 100 to proceed in the race.
This leaves the race open for former chancellor Rishi Sunak who leads nominations among Tory MPs, with 144 supporters.
In a statement, the former prime minister confirmed that he had “cleared the very high hurdle of 102 nominations”, but came to the conclusion that “this is simply not the right time”.
He added: “And though I have reached out to both Rishi and Penny – because I hoped that we could come together in the national interest – we have sadly not been able to work out a way of doing this”.
On Sunday, several long-time allies of Mr Johnson, including Suella Braverman and Steve Baker, threw their support behind Rishi Sunak, the frontrunner in the race.
Mr Baker, the former head of backbench Brexiteers, warned that a potential comeback by Mr Johnson would be a “guaranteed disaster”.
Mr Johnson flew back from a holiday in the Caribbean on Saturday and did not formally announce his candidacy in the race.
He did receive the backing of Tory MPs including Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Nadhim Zahawi, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
