The MP for Kingswood, Chris Skidmore, has said he will not stand in the race to be the next Prime Minister. The contest to decide who will take over as the leader of the Conservative party is set to get underway soon, and the winner will replace Boris Johnson as PM.
So far, 11 MPs have declared that they will put themselves forward as candidates - but Skidmore has announced that he will not. In a slightly bizarre video posted on Twitter today (July 11), which started with the MP standing there without realising the filming had begun and ended with him cutting the clip short to answer a phone call, Skidmore said he would focus his efforts on pushing for the government to tackle the climate crisis.
"This is a critical moment for the country and this is a critical moment for the Conservative party, which is why today I can announce that I won't be standing as leader of the Conservative party. Instead, I'm going to stand up for our commitments that we've made on the environment and climate change," he said.
