Boris Johnson is not pursuing Conservative leadership role

Boris Johnson has given a speech earlier today in which he ruled himself out of the Conservative Party leadership role. Nominations for candidates closed at noon today and the five candidates are:-

• Theresa May
• Stephen Crabb
• Liam Fox
• Michael Gove
• Andrea Leadsom

The first vote from MPs is due to take place next Tuesday (5th July 2016) with the candidate with the fewest votes being eliminated. A further vote should then take place next Thursday (7th July 2016) and if more than two candidates remain at that stage, the voting will continue until only two candidates remain. Those two candidates are then put forward for a vote by the wider membership of the Conservative Party and a new leader should then be elected. The Conservative Party board has recommended that the new leader be declared on 9th September 2016. For further information, please see the BBC News webpages.