Rishi Sunak - live: The former chancellor is set to become prime minister after Johnson drops out of the race

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Boris Johnson confirms he will not run in Tory leadership race

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Rishi Sunak looks set to be crowned as the UK's third Prime Minister this year today after Boris Johnson dropped out of his bid to lead the Tories last night .

Mr Johnson's retirement left Mr Sunak and Penny Mordaunt as the only declared contenders in the contest to succeed Liz Truss, the former Chancellor enjoying an overwhelming lead among Tory MPs.< /p>

The former Chancellor was closing in on the figure of 179 Tory MP nominations needed to represent half of the parliamentary party on Sunday evening, while Ms Mordaunt trailed far behind with just 26 public statements of support.

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Mr. Johnson accused his rivals of not joining him for the good of the country and doubled down on his claims that he had "passed the very high hurdle of 102 nominations" required to be on the ballot for Tory MPs. /p>

But he said he had "unfortunately come to the conclusion that it just wouldn't be the right thing to do", adding: "You can't govern effectively if you don't have a united party in parliament."