Boris surges ahead in Tory leadership race

The odds on favourite to become the next Prime Minister won 114 votes in the first round ballot, comfortably beating Jeremy Hunt on 43 and Michael Gove on 37.

The race for Number 10 is now down to seven candidates after Esther McVey (9 votes), Mark Harper (10) and Andrea Leadsom (11) all failed to gain the support required to go through to the next round.

Announcing the results, Dame Cheryl Gillan confirmed that Mr Johnson had secured 114 votes, taking him past the 105 necessary to secure a spot in the final two.

A significant number of Ms McVey and Mrs Leadsom's supporters are now expected to switch to Mr Johnson.

Dominic Raab (27), Sajid Javid (23), Matt Hancock (20) and Rory Stewart (19) also made it through to the next round, which is due to take place on June 18 and will see candidates need 33 votes to progress.

Mr Johnson tweeted: "Thank you to my friends and colleagues in the Conservative & Unionist Party for your support. I am delighted to win the first ballot, but we have a long way to go."

Ms McVey said she would speak to the remaining candidates before deciding who to support.

"I am extremely grateful to those people who voted for me in this election and to the fantastic team who have supported my campaign," she said.

"I am pleased to have had a platform to make the case for Blue Collar Conservatism, a clean break from the EU and the need to invest money into schools, policing and a proper pay rise for our public sector workers.

"I will speak to the remaining candidates to see who is best placed to deliver on that programme.

"I wish the remaining candidates well and I hope that all Conservative MPs will unite behind whoever wins this contest which is essential to prevent the disaster of a Marxist Government.

"Whoever becomes the new leader will certainly receive my support."

International Development Secretary Mr Stewart said he was "absolutely over the moon" to have secured enough votes to survive the first ballot.

He said: "Remember, I had six declared votes and I have more than tripled that, so I'm really really happy and candidates who started that contest with four times the number of declared votes as me are now almost level pegging with me.

"This is now neck and neck going into the next round and for somebody who passionately believes that politics is about listening and who made a difficult decision to start this campaign not in this place but outside listening to people, I feel really inspired and encouraged and desperate to do more for the people who are supporting me out there."

He said it was a "very open race" to enter the final two alongside Boris Johnson and that he would be reaching out to "every single colleague" ahead of the next round.

"I'm going to have to now say to those who are neck and neck with me, I'm afraid this is the time to be serious," he said.

Former Brexit secretary Mr Raab, said: "I'm proud and honoured to have the support of so many brilliant colleagues.

"This campaign is just getting started and we've got a good base to build on.

"I'm the change candidate who can be trusted to deliver Brexit by October and has the vision and energy to take Britain forward, and beat Jeremy Corbyn."