Boris Johnson has announced that he will not formally stand in the Tory leadership race, leaving his former chancellor Rishi Sunak as the clear favourite to replace Liz Truss in Downing Street.
Having cut short his Caribbean holiday early in a bid to shore up support among Conservative MPs for what would have marked an extraordinary return to No 10 just six weeks after leaving office in a mire of scandal, Mr Johnson announced on the eve of nominations closing that he would not contest the role.
