Penny Mordaunt today became the first MP to announce her bid for Prime Minister in a lightning-quick Tory leadership race.
The Cabinet minister - who calamity-struck Liz Truss beat to election by just eight MPs last time - made her bid public as she appeared to struggle to get an initial wave of backers.
Candidates need 100 MP nominations each by 2pm on Monday to get on the ballot paper, and Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson were both ahead of her in early-declared backers.