Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has dropped out of the Tory leadership contest - throwing his weight behind favourite Rishi Sunak.
The move is a big boost for the former Chancellor, who quit the Cabinet last Tuesday after serving in Boris Johnson's government since February 2020.
At the weekend Mr Shapps threw his hat into the ring, vowing to shrink the state and end "tactical government by an often distracted centre."
Last night he had the public backing of 10 Tory MPs - with 20 required in order for his campaign to proceed to the next round.
He wrote on Twitter : "Huge thanks to my team for helping to pull together my leadership bid in literally no time! Amongst a field of brilliant candidates I've spoken to @RishiSunak who I believe has the competence and experience to lead this country."
Mr Shapps, who has held various frontbench roles since joining the then-shadow cabinet in 2007, was a key part of Boris Johnson's 2018 leadership campaign.
The Transport Secretary first became a household name - or names - after he was found to have used the alias Michael Green to sell get-rich-quick schemes on the internet.
Mr Sunak will receive heavyweight support from another ex-chancellor, Lord Lamont, who said Mr Sunak has the courage to take the "tough decisions" needed to deal with the "extremely serious" economic situation.
Candidates require the support of 20 MPs in order to make the leadership contest, with nominations closing later on Tuesday.
By Tuesday morning, Mr Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Tom Tugendhat look to already have the declared backers to make the threshold.
Several other candidates - including Liz Truss, Mr Zahawi, Jeremy Hunt and Kemi Badenoch - were close enough before nominations formally opened to suggest they will be in the race.
Insiders from Sajid Javid's campaign were also confident of making the cut, as were allies of Suella Braverman.
Grant Shapps faces a battle to get the required nominations, while Rehman Chishti's low-key campaign does not appear to have caught the imagination of his colleagues and he may well fall at the first hurdle.
Mr Sunak - who has the most declarations of support so far - is alone among the contenders to succeed Mr Johnson in not promising immediate tax cuts if he wins.
He has come under attack from allies of the Prime Minister, who believe his announcement last week that he is quitting helped trigger the slew of resignations which forced Mr Johnson to admit his time is up.
In the past, Mr Rees-Mogg has described him scathingly as the "much-lamented socialist chancellor" who put up taxes while failing to curb inflation.
