Eight candidates have made it through to the first round of Tory leadership race, as Sajid Javid suffered a shock knockout.
Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt have secured the most declared nominations in the contest, ahead of the first ballot of MPs on Wednesday.
But Tom Tugendhat, Jeremy Hunt, Kemi Badenoch, Nadhim Zahawi and Suella Braverman also secured the 20 backers required to cross the line and make the vote a crowded field.
Mr Javid, the former health secretary, suffered the humiliation of failing to make the starting line – along with rank outsider Rehman Chishti, who failed to win any public backers.
The line-up underlines the fierce battle to be candidate of the right of the party, with Ms Truss, the foreign secretary, competing with the little-known Ms Badenoch and Ms Braverman.
Mr Hunt – the defeated 2019 candidate who was expected to be the standard bearer for the One Nation group – appears to be slipping badly behind Mr Tugendhat for that mantle.
But Mr Sunak, the former chancellor, remains the frontrunner to top the poll among Tory MPs, with 46 publicly-declared supporters.
In the first ballot among the 359 Conservative MPs on Wednesday, candidates will need 30 votes to progress through to the second round on Thursday.
More votes will be held next week, to whittle down the hopefuls to just two contenders by 21 July, with the final choice to be made by members.
The new prime minister will then be revealed on 5 September, dashing the hopes of many Conservative MPs that Mr Johnson could be forced out of No 10 sooner.
As the field narrowed, there were allegations of dirty tricks by the Sunak camp to keep Mr Hunt’s campaign alive by “lending” him nominations to stay in the race.
Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary and a Truss supporter, condemned “a stitch up”, saying: “Team Rishi want the candidate they know they can definitely beat in the final two”.
However, the claim was strongly denied – and it appeared unlikely that even help from Mr Sunak can drag Mr Hunt into the second stage of the contest, with his bid stuttering.
