Eight candidates in race to be Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader

Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch, Penny Mordaunt, Jeremy Hunt, Nadhim Zahawi and Suella Braverman all secured the 20 nominations from fellow MPs needed to enter the contest.

Former Health Secretary Sajid Javid pulled out of the race minutes before the shortlist was announced, as he had failed to reach the magic number of supporters.

Mr Javid’s resignation last Tuesday evening signalled a rush of ministers quitting from Boris Johnson’s Cabinet, a chain of events which led to him announcing he was quitting the top job just two days later.

Earlier Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that he was abandoning his bid and would be supporting Mr Sunak, the former chancellor.

Backbencher Rehman Chishti – seen as the rank outsider – also said that he was dropping out having failed to get enough nominations.

The first ballot is expected to be held tomorrow, and any candidate who wants to reach the next round must secure the backing of 30 of their Parliamentary colleagues.

A second ballot will follow on Thursday with further ballots to be held next week until the list of candidates is reduced to a final two – who will then go forward into a postal ballot of party members.

Bob Blackman, joint-executive secretary of the 1922 Committee, said the aim was to have the contest down to a final two before the start of MPs’ summer holidays.

He told Sky News: “We’ve got to slim down the list of candidates pretty quickly to two.

“And the one thing that we’re committed to do is to achieve getting to two candidates by Thursday July 21.”