The Conservative Party leadership contest is officially underway, with six senior Tory MPs making the ballot to replace Rishi Sunak.
Nominations closed at 2.30pm on Monday with Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Tom Tugendhat, Mel Stride, James Cleverly and Dame Priti Patel securing the backing of the 10 Tory MPs needed to progress to the next stage of the contest.
A number of votes by MPs will now whittle the shortlist down to four candidates, who will address the party faithful at the annual Tory conference at the start of October.
Further voting by the parliamentary party will then see four candidates become two, who will then be subject to a vote by Tory members with the leader announced on Nov 2.
Here, The Telegraph takes a look at who is running for Conservative leader and current odds against them.
MPs who ruled themselves out
Who ruled out a bid at the leadership
Jeremy Hunt
There had been speculation that the now former chancellor could make another leadership run after unexpectedly hanging on to his Godalming and Ash seat at Thursday’s election despite being widely expected to lose. He came second to Boris Johnson in 2019 and was seen as a potentially unifying figure, but told GB News: “No... That time has passed.”
Contenders who were ousted
Several high-profile would-be leaders lost their seats
Penny Mordaunt
Penny Mordaunt, the outgoing Commons Leader, ended up losing her seat by fewer than 1,000 votes, basically ruling her out of the race. She had been tipped as a contender after coming third in the 2022 leadership contest, and represented the Tories in two recent TV debates. Ms Mordaunt had boosted her popularity and her name recognition with her prominent ceremonial role at last year’s Coronation.
Steve Baker
Tory minister Steve Baker lost Wycombe to Labour candidate Emma Reynolds. Mr Baker had indicated that he would put his name forward if he had retained his seat. He was previously a senior Tory backbencher, chairing the European Research Group (ERG) of Brexiteer MPs twice during the run up to Britain’s formal departure from the European Union on January 31, 2020.