Rishi Sunak leads Tory leader race as he SMASHES threshold, but Priti and Shapps pull out before looming 6pm deadline

RISHI Sunak stormed ahead in the race to be Britain's next PM today after a flood of Tory big-hitters rallied to his campaign.

The ex-Chancellor left his leadership rivals for dust as he smashed through the 20-MP threshold to boast 43 supporters.

Grant Shapps today abandoned his own bid to throw his weight behind Mr Sunak, while deputy PM Dominic Raab also endorsed him.

Making a surprise appearance at the ex-Chancellor's leadership launch, the top Mr Raab and Mr Shapps handed another boost to the early runaway favourite.

Priti Patel's endorsement was also up for grabs after she ditched a last-gasp bid for PM.

The Home Secretary said: “I am grateful for the encouragement and support colleagues and party members have offered me in recent days in suggesting that I enter the contest for the leadership of the Conservative Party.

"I will not be putting my name forward for the ballot of MPs.”

But Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also won big beast supporters as Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries came out for her.

The pair are ultra-Boris loyalists and standard bearers for the party's right-wing Brexiteer faction.

True-blue candidates have been jockeying to fight frontrunner Mr Sunak in the final round as the champion of Brexit and low taxes.

Tory MPs fear a crowded field of Ms Truss, Suella Braverman, Kemi Badenoch could split the right-wing vote.

Wannabe PMs are scrambling to get the 20 nominations needed to get on the ballot before the 6pm deadline.

On a dramatic day in Westminster:

• Mr Sunak insisted Dominic Cummings will have nothing to do with his campaign
• Nadhim Zahawi took a naked swipe at predecessor Mr Sunak over his tax-cutting reluctance
• Kemi Badenoch launched her leadership bid on an "honesty" platform
• Tom Tugendhat also opened his campaign with a fuel duty cut pledge
• Penny Mordaunt bolstered her campaign with David Davis' backing and boasts the second most backers
• Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock backed Mr Sunak
• Channel 4 will host the first debate on Friday evening

Mr Sunak officially launched his campaign by defending his record as Chancellor and his reluctance to slash taxes immediately.

He says rivals are offering "fairytales" with pledges to cut taxes immediately and insists inflation needs to come down first.

Speaking in Westminster in a packed room he said "is is not credible to promise lots more spending and lower taxes".

"We need a return to traditional Conservative economic values and that means honesty and responsibility, not fairytales."

Taxes have become a crucial battleground in the race for Tory leader, with Zahawi, Truss, Mordaunt and Sajid Javid all promising cuts.

As the blue-on-blue snipes persisted, Chancellor Mr Zahawi used a campaign video to take aim at his predecessor with a tax blast.

He said: "I believe cutting taxes isn’t a fairytale, but a critical way to tackle the cost of living crisis."

Launching her race, Tory rising star candidate Kemi Badenoch refused to enter the tax cuts arms race.

She said: "I will not enter into a bidding war over my tax cuts are bigger than yours. To make promises that you cannot keep is a betrayal of everything I stand for. 

"The dividing line in this race is not tax cuts, it is judgement."

Party bosses on the ruling 1922 executive yesterday formally fired the starting gun on the race to be the next Conservative leader.

To scrape away the no-hopers candidates need 20 Tory MPs supporting their bid just to enter the first vote tomorrow.

So far just Mr Sunak, Ms Mordaunt and Tom Tugendhat publicly have the numbers to make the ballot.

Ms Truss and Mr Zahawi are also within touching distance and are confident they have the support to push them past 20.

The top two will then be put through rounds of hustings before a full vote of party members on September 5 when Parliament returns.

The first round of MP votes will be on Wednesday, and the second vote will be on Thursday.

Candidates will need at least 30 votes to get into the second round of voting.

The newly-elected executive committee met tonight to finalise the rules before nominations open tomorrow.

In a dramatic twist, Penny Mordaunt topped a poll by ConservativeHome of party members - with one in five backing the Trade Minister.

She pipped Kemi Badenoch who won the backing of 19 per cent, with Mr Sunak lagging behind in fourth with 12 per cent.

Brexiteer Suella Braverman and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss trailed on 10 per cent.

And Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and ex-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt came in at 7th and 8th place in an embarrassing blow for their hopes of getting the keys to No10.

But senior Tories warned the race was wide open this evening, with a fresh warning the battle was collapsing into a Game of Thrones-style bloodbath.

Ex-Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the party faces “electoral oblivion" if they do not change, as he urged colleagues to "pull together".

"I'm sorry to say that, looking at some of the stories in the weekend press, it's not been our best start," Mr Javid said during his official launch speech.

"Poisonous gossip, attack memos, allegations thrown around.

"This isn't House Of Cards or Game Of Thrones. And the people who are here just because they enjoy the game are in the wrong place."