Humiliated Boris Johnson has pulled out of the Tory leadership race - leaving his arch-rival Rishi Sunak in pole position to be 'crowned' PM within hours.
The former premier abandoned his dream of returning to No10, confessing he would be too divisive, after Tory grandees voiced fury and his campaign flopped.
In a 9pm statement he claimed without evidence that he'd reached 100 backers - but admitted: “This is simply not the right time.”
It was published at exactly the same minute as an article by backer Nadhim Zahawi entitled: 'Get Ready for Boris 2.0'.
Now there are fears Mr Sunak - whose Chancellor will deliver a financial statement next Monday - will launch a round of savage public services cuts while millions of people battle the cost of living crisis.
It will ramp up calls for a general election - backed by the Mirror - as Mr Johnson boasted only he could have delivered properly on the 2019 Tory manifesto.
His close ally Zac Goldsmith tonight admitted an election was now "morally unavoidable". He tweeted: "I don’t see how we can have a 3rd new PM - & a policy programme that is miles away from the original manifesto - without going to the country."
The disgraced ex-PM had jetted in from his Dominican Republic beach holiday to drum up support, prompting a chorus of Tories to warn his comeback would destroy the party and the country.
But hours after backers tonight claimed he had the 100 MPs he needed to get on the ballot, Mr Johnson declared he would not be standing after all.
The arrogant MP boasted he had led the Tories into a "massive election victory" and was "uniquely placed to avert a general election now" by fulfilling the 2019 manifesto.
He added: "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."
It means Rishi Sunak will almost certainly become Britain’s next Prime Minister on Monday night or Tuesday - the UK’s first ethnic minority PM.
Mr Sunak appeared to either mock Boris Johnson's foreign speaking gigs and holidays - or signal he could get a globetrotting job.
He tweeted: "Although he has decided not to run for PM again, I truly hope he continues to contribute to public life at home and abroad."
Almost half of the 357 Tory MPs had publicly declared for Mr Sunak - while only 60 or so revealed they were backing Boris Johnson and fewer than 30 for Penny Mordaunt.
Unless Ms Mordaunt enjoys a late surge, a flood of Johnson backers or support in secret, she could miss the 100-MP threshold to go to a ballot of Tory members.
Ms Mordaunt was tonight desperately trying to win over Mr Johnson’s supporters in an attempt to prevent a coronation for Mr Sunak.
She needs to secure dozens more backers by 2pm on Monday to stop the former Chancellor triumphing by default. Johnson supporter Michael Fabricant said he would back her because “I abhor political coronations. They invariably get it wrong.”
Ms Mordaunt's campaign tonight vowed she would not pull out. A source said: "Penny is the unifying candidate who is most likely to keep the wings of the Conservative Party together".
Mordaunt backer Damian Green, a former Deputy PM, warned: “If it’s all stitched up behind closed doors by big figures at Westminster, our party members will feel cheated.”
Neither Penny Mordaunt nor Rishi Sunak have spelt out any of the policies they will adopt when one of them is catapulted into Downing Street this week.
Keir Starmer said “we need a general election” to “let the public decide” on producing a “stable Labour government”. Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: “The Tories are about to hand Rishi Sunak the keys to the country without him saying a single word about how he would govern. No one voted for this.
“Perhaps it’s not surprising he’s avoiding scrutiny: after all, he was so bad that just a few weeks ago he was trounced by Liz Truss.”
Mr Johnson’s campaign team had spent the day trying to convince MPs they already had the 100 nominations needed to get his name on the ballot.
They hoped that would encourage other MPs to offer support and get him over the line.
But Boris Johnson was dealt blow after blow as key figures backed Mr Sunak including right-wingers Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman, and MOD minister James Heappey.
A poll of the wider public by Opinium found 45% prefer Rishi Sunak to be the PM, compared to just 27% for Boris Johnson.
Mr Johnson's former Brexit chief, chief of staff and deputy PM all warned against him for leader - while influential Brexiteer Steve Baker branded him a "guaranteed disaster" who would "implode taking the whole government down with him”.
And former Chancellor Mr Sunak's total kept ticking up to around 150 while only a trickle of new Johnson backers, including Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, topped up his tally.
At 9pm Mr Johnson insisted he had just scraped over the threshold - but his support was dwarfed by the backing for Mr Sunak.
In an echo of his 2016 humbling - when he ditched his bid for leadership after being out-manoeuvred by Michael Gove - he admitted defeat 35 hours after landing in Britain in a bid to recapture his old job.
He had already been accused of lying about his number of backers after they refused to be identified. When his backers claimed they'd reached 100 at 5pm, a source on Penny Mordaunt ’s campaign scoffed: "People think it's a bluff - he's been losing supporters".
Despite boasting he had enough supporters, he begged Ms Mordaunt to quit the race and back his bid hours before he pulled out.
But Ms Mordaunt refused - and suggested he should drop out and back her instead.
It’s thought she “called his bluff” over his claim to have 100 backers in secret, saying some of them were actually supporting her.
Critics had warned if he succeeded in reclaiming the keys to Downing Street, the party and the nation would be thrown into new chaos.
The Commons Privileges Committee is due to interrogate him by Christmas on whether he misled Parliament over lockdown-busting parties in No10, first revealed by the Mirror.
If he is found in contempt of Parliament he could be suspended from the Commons or even face a by-election in his Uxbridge seat, which Labour believe they can win.
Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper branded the Tory leadership race "a total farce" as calls mounted for a general election.
She said: "This is a humiliating climbdown for Boris Johnson and all the Conservative MPs who wanted to put him back in Number 10 after he lied and broke the law.
“The public will rightly be furious that they’re set to endure a third Conservative PM in just as many months."
Attempts to build momentum behind Mr Johnson’s latest tilt for the top had already descended into farce.
Urging the then PM to quit in July, ex-Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi said: “This is not sustainable and it will only get worse.
“I am heartbroken that he hasn’t listened and is now undermining the incredible achievements of this government.”
Yet today Mr Zahawi claimed: “He was contrite & honest about his mistakes. He’d learned from those mistakes how he could run No10 & the country better.”
Boris Johnson's statement in full
The former PM issued a statement tonight saying: "In the last few days I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who suggested that I should once again contest the Conservative Party leadership, both among the public and among friends and colleagues in Parliament.
"I have been attracted because I led our party into a massive election victory less than three years ago - and I believe I am therefore uniquely placed to avert a general election now.
"A general election would be a further disastrous distraction just when the government must focus on the economic pressures faced by families across the country.
"I believe I am well placed to deliver a Conservative victory in 2024 - and tonight I can confirm that I have cleared the very high hurdle of 102 nominations, including a proposer and a seconder, and I could put my nomination in tomorrow.
"There is a very good chance that I would be successful in the election with Conservative Party members - and that I could indeed be back in Downing Street on Friday.
"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.
"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.
"I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time."
All the MPs who backed Boris Johnson before he pulled out
- Alok Sharma
- Amanda Milling
- Andrea Jenkyns
- Andrew Rosindell
- Andrew Stephenson
- Anne-Marie Trevelyan
- Antony Higginbotham
- Ben Bradley
- Ben Everitt
- Ben Wallace
- Bob Stewart
- Boris Johnson
- Brendan Clarke-Smith
- Caroline Johnson
- Chris Clarkson
- Chris Heaton-Harris
- Christopher Chope
- David Morris
- Edward Leigh
- Gareth Johnson
- Greg Smith
- Holly Mumby-Croft
- Ian Levy
- Jacob Rees-Mogg
- James Cleverly
- James Duddridge
- James Grundy
- Jane Hunt
- Jane Stevenson
- Jill Mortimer
- John Whittingdale
- Jonathan Gullis
- Karl McCartney
- Kelly Tolhurst
- Lee Anderson
- Leo Docherty
- Lia Nici
- Marco Longhi
- Maria Caulfield
- Mark Eastwood
- Mark Pritchard
- Matthew Offord
- Michael Fabricant
- Nadhim Zahawi
- Nadine Dorries
- Nigel Adams
- Paul Bristow
- Peter Bone
- Philip Hollobone
- Priti Patel
- Richard Drax
- Sarah Atherton
- Scott Benton
- Shailesh Vara
- Shaun Bailey
- Sheryll Murray
- Simon Clarke
- Stephen McPartland
- Tom Pursglove
- Trudy Harrison
- William Cash
