Suella Braverman has announced that she will not run to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.
The former Home Secretary said she got the backing she needed to run but has chosen not to.
‘Although I’m grateful to the 10 MPs who wanted to nominate me for the leadership, getting on to the ballot is not enough,’ she wrote in an article for The Telegraph.
‘There is, for good or for ill, no point in someone like me running to lead the Tory Party when most of the MPs disagree with my diagnosis and prescription.’
She said the party’s disastrous election result was down to failures on migration, taxes and ‘transgender ideology’.
She added: ‘I’ve been branded mad, bad and dangerous enough to see that the Tory Party does not want to hear this. And so I will bow out here.’
In contrast, shadow housing secretary Kemi Badenoch has entered the leadership race to replace Rishi Sunak.
Ms Badenoch, who served as business and trade secetary in the last Government – is the sixth MP to put themselves forward.
She joins James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat, Robert Jenrick, Mel Stride and Priti Patel in launching their bids for leadership.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
Suella Braverman has announced that she will not run to be the next leader of the Conservative Party