Boris Johnson's statement in full as he quits the race to replace Liz Truss in No 10

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Boris Johnson has announced he will not formally run in the Tory leadership race, leaving his former Chancellor Rishi Sunak as the favorite to replace Liz Truss at Downing Street.

Having cut short his Caribbean holiday early in a bid to bolster support from Tory MPs for what would have marked an extraordinary return to No 10 just six weeks after he left office amid a quagmire of scandal , Mr Johnson announced on the eve of the closing nominations that he would not contest the role.

Despite public support from just over 60 Tory MPs, the former Prime Minister claimed to have privately passed the 100 nominations threshold needed to appear in a vote on Monday.

But after days of dismay among Tory MPs warning that his reinstatement in Downing Street could drive a chasm in their party and te To leave his mark for a generation, Mr Johnson said he had decided a formal bid to return to power "just wouldn't be the right thing to do".

Although he claimed there was a "very good chance" his party could have propelled him to No 10, Mr Johnson admitted: "You can't govern effectively unless you have a united party at parliament. race - fast approaching 179 nominations marking the support of more than half of the parliamentary party.

His only remaining challenger, Penny Mordaunt, has seen only 26 public statements of support at the time of Mr Johnson's announcement, and it remained to be seen whether she could muster enough of her supporters to go to the polls the next day.

Here is Mr Johnson's statement in full:

"Over the past few days, I have been overwhelmed with the number of people suggesting that I challenge the Conservative Party leaders again, both among the public and among friends and colleagues in Parliament.