Rishi Sunak is all set to be named as the UK's next Prime Minister, possibly as early as this afternoon, after Boris Johnson last night dramatically pulled out the race for 10 Downing Street.
The former PM's decision came after he admitted he cannot unite the warring Conservative Party.
But Penny Mordaunt - Mr Sunak's only remaining rival in the race to become the next prime minister - signalled she would not withdraw from the process.
Mr Johnson had the public support of 59 MPs, but required 100 to continue in the contest.
Former chancellor Mr Sunak has 155 of the 357 Tory MPs publicly backing him this morning, according to latest calculations.
Ms Mordaunt lags well behind with just 25.
Race could be over soon
She has until 2pm today to increase the figure to 100 - otherwise the race is over.
British bookies have already made their mind up that Mr Sunak is going to be the next PM, as he is generally a red-hot favourite at 1/25.
Mr Johnson said he had "reached out" to Mr Sunak and Ms Mordaunt to see if they could work together in the national interest, but it had not proved possible.
The Telegraph says he insisted he had secured the 100 nominations needed to get onto the ballot paper - and that if he stood there was a "very good chance" he would be back in Downing Street by the end of the week.
He went on: "But in the course of the last days I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do. You can't govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament.
"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.
Commit support
"Therefore I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds."
But Mr Johnson did not entirely rule out a comeback, saying: "I believe I have much to offer, but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time."
While Mr Sunak is now the clear favourite, a source from Penny Mordaunt's campaign said: she was "still running" for leader.
"Penny is the unifying candidate who is most likely to keep the wings of the Conservative Party together and polling shows that she is the most likely candidate to hold onto the seats the Conservative Party gained in 2019," they said.
"Ed Balls, shadow cabinet ministers and Labour advisers have all said Penny is the candidate Keir Starmer fears most."
Mr Sunak said of Mr Johnson: "Although he has decided not to run for PM again, I truly hope he continues to contribute to public life at home and abroad."
Switch to Mr Sunak
In the immediate aftermath of the decision, some of Johnson's supporters switched to Mr Sunak.
Nadhim Zahawi, the Cabinet Office minister, who had endorsed Johnson yesterday morning, said: "A day is a long time in politics. Given today's news, it's clear that we should turn to Rishi Sunak."
A source close to Mr Sunak told the Times: "We are not taking anything for granted. Rishi will be continuing to talk to colleagues on Monday morning before nomination papers go in, and discussing how best to unite the party and take the country forward."