Sajid Javid, Liz Truss & Grant Shapps to make leadership bid as Dominic Raab rules himself out of PM job

SAJID Javid, Liz Truss and Grant Shapps are set to make leadership bids, while Dominic Raab has ruled himself out for the job of Prime Minister.

A race to replace Boris Johnson as Tory leader is now underway after Boris Johnson announced his resignation.

Conservative leadership elections are automatically triggered when a Tory PM resigns.

Mr Johnson says he will remain in his post until a new leader is appointed - but big Conservative hitters are already throwing their hats in the ring.

Its understood Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and former health secretary Sajid Javid are both seriously considering running for Tory leader.

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, is cutting short an official trip to Indonesia and will issue a statement shortly, sources close to her said.

She is widely seen as a potential leadership contender.

The Sun understands Penny Mordaunt is also very likely to put herself forward for the role.

But Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab is not planning to stand to become the next Conservative Party leader, it has been reported.

And Michael Gove has confirmed will not run for the party leader after he was sensationally sacked by BoJo on Wednesday.

Mr Johnson's government utterly imploded with dozens of resignations and junior ministers refusing to fill vacant jobs.

Sir Keir Starmer has promised to table a vote of no confidence if Mr Johnson does not leave immediately.

Tory leadership elections take place in two stages.

The first stage involves shortlisting candidates for party chief. An MP needs the support of 8 colleagues to make the shortlist.

Once the list is complete two rounds of voting take place to shrink it.

All Tory MPs are allowed to cast votes.

Candidates who don’t meet a certain threshold in the two rounds are eliminated.

Next a further series of ballots take place and in each of these the candidate with the lowest votes is eliminated until only two people remain.

Then stage two kicks off.

The entire Tory membership – not just MPs – vote for who they’d prefer of the two final names.

The winner becomes the next PM.