Top Tories are battling to succeed Boris Johnson as Prime Minister in a bitter contest that will drag on over the summer.
Eleven Conservatives were battling for the 20 supporters they needed to get on the ballot before a string of knockout rounds by MPs - and eight got through to the first round of voting, with a further two - Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi - eliminated at this stage.
Suella Braverman was then eliminated in the second round, leaving five candidates to battle it out.
Rishi Sunak was in the lead as expected but he was closely followed by dark horse candidate Penny Mordaunt. Once-favourite Liz Truss was in third - but could easily pull ahead of Ms Mordaunt to face Mr Sunak in the run-off if right-wingers swing behind her.
With only two candidates going to the final ballot of 180,000 Tory members, Conservatives have been trying to out-Tory each other on tax, austerity cuts and wedge issues.
The PM finally caved to pressure from his mutinous MPs over the Chris Pincher scandal - but vowed to cling on until a successor has been appointed on September 5.
Here we look at who is still in the running for Tory leader.
The candidates so far - and their odds from Ladbrokes as of 8am on Friday 15 July:
Penny Mordaunt: 4/5
Liz Truss: 5/2
Rishi Sunak: 7/2
Kemi Badenoch: 25/1
Tom Tugendhat: 150/1
Here are their profiles:
Rishi Sunak
The former Chancellor launched his leadership campaign aiming to restore trust after Mr Johnson's premiership.
Mr Sunak released a swanky launch video in which he set out his family history, saying: “Our country faces huge challenges, the most serious for a generation.
“And the decisions we make today will decide whether the next generation of British people will also have the chance of a better future.”
The slick 42-year-old Chancellor, nicknamed 'Dishy Rishi', was long seen as the frontrunner to succeed Boris Johnson as Britain's first PM of Asian descent.
But the former investment firm founder, who has only been an MP since 2015, has slipped down the rankings after a series of gaffes as the cost of living crisis bites.
It emerged his wife Askhata Murty, with whom he's 222nd on the Sunday Times Rich List with a combined £730m fortune, was paying £30,000 a year to use her non-dom status not to pay UK tax on her overseas income. She later U-turned.
Penny Mordaunt
Back in government since February 2020, the 49-year-old Trade Minister has kept her head down but has now burst into a prime position for PM.
The Royal Navy reservist had until recently trodden a diplomatic path, supporting Brexit while opposing bids to oust Theresa May in 2018.
But she also has a sense of humour - she took part in a reality TV show Splash and used the word “cock” six times in a Commons debate as part of a game with fellow reservists.
Born to an ex-paratrooper, named after a Navy ship and related to both Angela Lansbury and Labour's first chancellor Philip Snowden, she was educated at a Catholic school, a drama school and Reading University.
Since becoming an MP in 2010 she has worked in a string of top jobs including Defence Secretary but was sacked from the Cabinet by Boris Johnson - only to be brought back at a more junior rank.
The MP for Portsmouth North announced her bid for the leadership on Sunday morning, as a number of leadership hopefuls appeared on morning shows.
In a video promoting her candidacy, she said: “Our leadership has to change. It needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship.”
Liz Truss
Britain's first female Foreign Secretary has been on a journey since she branded the level of cheese imports a "disgrace" and boasted about opening up pork markets while a Remainer Environment Secretary in 2014.
Cast back even further and she was born into a lefty family, chanting 'Maggie Maggie Maggie, out out out' with her mother and later protesting Tory policy as a Lib Dem activist.
The comprehensive-schooled MP has since become a darling of some sections of the Tory right, boasting the benefits of Brexit while International Trade Secretary and failing to defend judges who were branded "enemies of the people" when she was Justice Secretary.
Her bid for leadership was long a running joke in Westminster. She poses for carefully-choreographed social media posts, including jogging on the Brooklyn Bridge and posing in a tank like Margaret Thatcher.
The 46-year-old became an MP in 2010 after working at Shell, Cable and Wireless, and then as deputy director of the Reform think tank. She has had to defend Tory tax rises but spoke out against a windfall tax on oil giants and insists she is a low-tax Tory.
Kemi Badenoch
Former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch has put herself forward as a candidate to become the new prime minister, promising "limited government" and "a focus on the essentials".
The MP for Saffron Walden said she supported lower taxes "to boost growth and productivity, and accompanied by tight spending discipline".
Writing in The Times, the 'culture warrior' MP also hit out at "identity politics" and said Boris Johnson was "a symptom of the problems we face, not the cause of them".
"People are exhausted by platitudes and empty rhetoric. Loving our country, our people or our party is not enough," she said.
Born to a GP and professor in Wimbledon, she lived in the US and Nigeria as a child before returning to the UK, where she likes to point out she had a job in McDonald's while studying for her A-levels.
She then worked for the private bank Coutts and the Spectator magazine, standing as a Tory candidate for the first time in 2010. She was eventually elected in 2017 and rose fast - introducing Theresa May at conference in her first year.
Tom Tugendhat
The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee was first out of the blocks, saying he was putting together a "broad coalition" offering a "clean start".
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, the former soldier said: "I have served before - in the military, and now in Parliament. Now I hope to answer the call once again as Prime Minister."
Mr Tugendhat, 48, has only been an MP for seven years but he was the first to confirm he’d throw his hat in the ring.
The centre-right former Remainer has been a vocal critic of Boris Johnson's foreign policy - such as on Russian sanctions and the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The privately-educated son of a High Court judge has dual citizenship with his France where his wife is a judge, speaks Arabic, and voted remain in the 2016 Brexit debate. His family own a forest in Essone, near Versailles.
He served in Iraq as an intelligence officer with the Royal Marines and ran the central region - Baghdad and the surrounding cities - in 2003. Later he became advisor to the governor of Afghanistan's Helmand Province.
ELIMINATED
Jeremy Hunt
The former Cabinet Minister, 55, was the last candidate standing against Boris Johnson in 2019.
He spent months in a "will he, won't he" tussle before coming out on the day of the Tory no confidence vote in Mr Johnson in June.
Mr Hunt said "I will be voting for change" because otherwise the Tories "are set to lose the next general election ".
Mr Hunt told BBC's Sunday Morning he would make Esther McVey his deputy if he is elected Tory leader.
He has vowed to stick with the Rwanda policy and cut business rates for deprived areas.
Britain's longest-serving Health Secretary sparked fury on the left for pushing through junior doctor contracts that were deemed dangerous. But in Tory eyes he is near the moderate, internationalist centre of the party, serving in a string of top roles, backing Remain and now chairing the Health Committee.
An MP since 2005, he was educated at £41,000-a-year public school Charterhouse and is a millionaire after founding the educational firm Hotcourses in 1990.
He and his Chinese-born wife, who he mistakenly said was Japanese in a bizarre 2018 gaffe while Foreign Secretary, have spent millions on a portfolio of luxury flats. He broke ethics rules by failing to declare his stake for six months.
Suella Braverman
The Brexit-backing Attorney General launched an unexpected leadership before Mr Johnson had even quit.
As the Government crumbled, Ms Braverman told ITV that he had handled matters "appallingly" in recent days and "the balance has tipped now in favour of saying that the Prime Minister - it pains me to say it - but it's time to go".
Ms Braverman, who was first elected as an MP in 2015, is regarded as something of an outsider for the leadership given the party grandees already tipped to be in the running.
A Suella Braverman for PM Twitter account has sprung up, with Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne becoming the first to tweet his support for her bid.
Nadhim Zahawi
The 55-year-old had a remarkable life story before being named Vaccines Minister during Covid, then Education Secretary.
He was promoted to Chancellor to replace Rishi Sunak in Boris Johnson's desperate last ditch reshuffle - before turning on the PM and saying he needed to go.
His Kurdish parents fled Baghdad when he was nine and he was educated at a West London comprehensive, then a private school before attending UCL and building up a lucrative business career.
He co-founded the leading pollster YouGov before being elected to Parliament in 2010, and had a lucrative career with the oil industry, being paid more than £1,000 an hour by Gulf Keystone Petroleum before he took a ministerial job.
Last year the Mirror disclosed he, his wife and their companies had built a £100m property portfolio. In 2013 he promised to repay a bill for power at his stables which was funded by taxpayers.
RULED THEMSELVES OUT
Grant Shapps
Tory leadership candidate Grant Shapps said he believes he played a part in convincing Boris Johnson to step down.
The Transport Secretary said he wanted to make sure Mr Johnson was “getting the facts” as “things were coming to a close” with his premiership.
But he later pulled out when it was clear he wouldn't make the 20 signatures to get on the ballot, and backed Rishi Sunak.
Priti Patel
To her admirers the 50-year-old MP since 2010 is the ultimate Tory success story, inspired into politics by Margaret Thatcher after being raised by a Ugandan-Indian family in London and moving from PR into politics.
To her critics she is a hardline right-winger who has led repeated attacks on refugees and the right to protest while Home Secretary.
Even then, her failure to stem the numbers of desperate people crossing the Channel in small boats - including with a legally contentious plan to force them to Rwanda - could count against her with Tory MPs.
She was forced out as Theresa May's Trade Secretary in 2017 for holding off-the-books meetings during a holiday to Israel, which it was claimed broke the Ministerial Code. She was accused again of breaking the Code over bullying claims but exonerated by Boris Johnson, who overturned an ethics advisor's recommendation.
The Home Secretary showed her loyalty to Boris Johnson by chivvying MPs on a Tory WhatsApp group that they needed to get behind him. But she is said to be considering a leadership bid this time around.
Nadine Dorries
Johnson loyalist Nadine Dorries was considering throwing her hat into the ring.
Ms Dorries was reportedly "seriously thinking about" running in a bid to keep Mr Johnson's "flame alive", her friends told the Mail.
But she ruled herself out and backed Liz Truss.
Michael Gove
Boris Johnson's ally turned rival has held a string of cabinet posts but was brutally sacked by the PM in one of his last acts before admitting defeat.
Michael Gove famously torpedoed Mr Johnson's 2016 leadership bid by announcing he would run himself but he was knocked out before the members ballot.
Theresa May later triumphed after Andrea Leadsom withdrew from the contest.
Mr Gove ran again in 2019 but he is not expected to have a third tilt at the top job. He backed Kemi Badenoch.
Dominic Raab
The Deputy Prime Minister, 48, made it to the third round of the 2019 leadership contest after rising through the ranks as a Brexiteer.
But he is also expected to sit this contest out. He also backed Rishi Sunak.
There have been calls for Mr Raab to take over as a caretaker PM, after he deputised for Mr Johnson when he was hospitalised with Covid.
James Cleverly
The newly appointed Education Secretary ruled himself out of this race as his wife is undergoing cancer treatment.
Asked if he would be running by Sky News, he said: "No, I won't be.
"I put myself forward last time, I don't regret that, I really enjoyed it. As you know, my wife has been going through cancer treatment and whilst that is progressing, well, it hasn't concluded.
"It's not the right time for me."
Ben Wallace
The 52-year-old Defence Secretary, an MP since 2005, is respected by many Tories for his no-nonsense style - including weeping in an interview last year over the withdrawal from Afghanistan and hitting back at Putin's threats over Ukraine.
He's also a favourite with Tory grassroots, regularly topping the popularity polls for influential blog ConservativeHome.
But his blunt manner could also cost him some advancement, such as in 2019 when No10 slapped him down for being caught on camera making remarks about Boris Johnson's prorogation of parliament.
The privately-schooled son of a soldier attended Sandhurst and served in Germany, Cyprus, Belize and Northern Ireland before entering politics in the early 2000s, including as an aide to Ken Clarke.
Ruling himself out of the contest, he said: "After careful consideration and discussing with colleagues and family, I have taken the decision not to enter the contest for leadership of the Conservative Party.
"I am very grateful to all my parliamentary colleagues and wider members who have pledged support.
"It has not been an easy choice to make, but my focus is on my current job and keeping this great country safe.
"I wish the very best of luck to all candidates and hope we swiftly return to focusing on the issues that we are all elected to address."
Jacob Rees-Mogg said he was "sorry" Mr Wallace withdrew himself from the race.
Steve Baker
Ardent Brexiteer Steve Baker said he was seriously considering putting himself forward for the top job - but eventually backed out.
The backbench organiser said Tory blog ConservativeHome "consistently put me in their top ten for next Prime Minister, they sometimes put me in their top five".
Burt he admitted it would be "very difficult" to persuade colleagues to back him for the party-wide ballot without Cabinet experience.
Mr Baker successfully plotted to oust Theresa May as prime minister but, despite his credentials as a Brexit die-hard, he is not a household name.
Announcing he would not be running, he gave his backing to Suella Braverman.
He said: "Suella is the embodiment of our diverse country and enthusiastic about it too. When even I wobbled about backing Brexit in name only, Suella stood firm. We only have Brexit today because of what we did then. It wouldn't have happened without her."
In a follow-up tweet, he added: "I considered standing for the leadership. My priorities were delivering against our manifesto with our mandate, cutting taxes and seeing through Brexit. Happily I no longer need to stand.
"SuellaBraverman will deliver these priorities and more. #Suella4PM."
