good morning and welcome to bbc news. we could find out as early as this afternoon who s replacing liz truss as the uk s prime minister. tory mps have until 2pm to make their nominations for party leader and each candidate needs at least 100 backers. if only one achieves that, they ll be declared party leader today and walk through the famous black door as prime minister as soon as tomorrow. if more than one candidate hits the hundred mark, there ll be a ballot by mps later today followed by a vote of party members this week. two candidates have officially declared that they are running, rishi sunak and penny mordaunt. so far, just over 200 out of 357 tory mps have told the bbc who they ll be supporting. 180 more than half of the parliamentary party are backing rishi sunak, and 26 for penny mordaunt. when borisjohnson dropped out of the running last night, he claimed to have the backing of 102 mps that support will now shift to the two remaining candidates.
there is a lot of support for penny from colleagues. we had that support from all sides of the party yesterday. and last night, borisjohnson put an end to days of speculation about a comeback when he dramatically pulled out of the race saying it would not be the right thing to do . rishi sunak praised johnson for his achievements after he pulled out of the race nominations close at 2pm that s when we should find out whether or not there has to be a ballot of conservative party members, or if one person will be moving straight into number ten. we ll be bringing you updates throughout the day.
and this is why i d encourage all colleagues to support him immediately. so this was a significant political victory for rishi sunak. he s seen off borisjohnson, the man who made him chancellor, but who he fell out with spectacularly over the summer and helped bring down. trying perhaps to bury the hatchet, mr sunak last night praised mrjohnson and said. i truly hope he continues to contribute to public life at home and abroad. the other candidate in the race, penny mordaunt, says she s still pressing ahead. despite being far behind in public endorsements, she believes many borisjohnson supporters are likely to switch to her. michael fabricant already has. he said. despite my bitter disappointment in borisjohnson deciding not to stand this time, i have returned to my natural home. her team said she was the unifying candidate who is most likely to keep the wings of the conservative party together, and the most likely candidate to hold onto the the seats the conservative party gained
westminster this morning that with borisjohnson out of westminster this morning that with boris johnson out of the westminster this morning that with borisjohnson out of the picture, rishi sunak will win. supporters are penny mordaunt have told us in the last half she can get to 100, she can be on the ballot, there will be a run off and she can take it to the membership. what are you expecting to happen? the membership. what are you expecting to ha en? , , membership. what are you expecting to hauen? , , ., , , to happen? the simple answer is, i do not know to happen? the simple answer is, i do not know when to happen? the simple answer is, i do not know when no to happen? the simple answer is, i do not know when no one - to happen? the simple answer is, i do not know when no one will - to happen? the simple answer is, i do not know when no one will know until the deadline of two o clock. i thought you were the man in westminster knowing all the numbers. i have been rather spendi
wider tory party members - on friday. chris, if that vote of| wider tory party members does happen, how much does that change things? at the moment, rishi sunak has the commanding lead and is the favourite, but but how much does it change for penny mordaunt if it gets to the wider membership? it change for penny mordaunt if it gets to the wider membership? it changes it completely to the wider membership? it changes it completely because to the wider membership? it changes it completely because it to the wider membership? it changes it completely because it opens - to the wider membership? it changes it completely because it opens the i it completely because it opens the whole thing up again. it was a giant question mark over both of their names rather than what has become something of an assumption since last night, when borisjohnson withdrew, that it was highly likely to be rishi sunak. suddenly, it wouldn t be that clear. why? well, the electorate expands massively. still, of