Fareham MP Suella Braverman ‘honoured’ to make it through to next stage of Conservative Party leadership contest along with Portsmouth MP Penny Mordaunt

The attorney general will go into the first ballot of MPs in the Tory leadership contest along with Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch, Nadhim Zahawi and Jeremy Hunt, it was announced. Sajid Javid has withdrawn from the race.

The candidates needed the support of 20 Tory MPs to get them onto the ballot.

Ms Braverman had said on Twitter she had enough MP nominations needed to continue running in the Tory leadership contest, only to delete the tweet prior to the announcement being made.

She had tweeted: ‘I’m happy to confirm that I’ve been nominated by my colleagues to stand for the leadership.

‘I’m conscious of the honour they’ve done me and I look forward to the first ballot tomorrow.’

But after the result was confirmed, Ms Braverman said she was ‘honoured and excited’ to move to the next stage of the contest after the 1922 Committee revealed the candidates who would continue to the next ballot.

Ms Braverman said she was looking forward to the process playing out.

The MP was known to have nine supporters going into the 6pm Tuesday deadline to receive the required number of votes.

Her leadership bid had been given more weight by prominent Brexiteer Steve Baker, who had considered running himself.

‘Happily I no longer need to stand. Suella Braverman will deliver,’ he said.

Ms Braverman, who launched her campaign with the slogan ‘it’s time to get back on track’, said she would deliver trust back to the people.

Writing on her campaign website, she said: ‘People voted Conservative for different reasons, but the common thread is a belief that Britain is at its best when it makes decisions for itself.

‘The British people put their trust in this government. I will never betray that. A government I lead will move heaven and earth to get this country back on track.’

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Britain’s new prime minister will be announced on September 5 as the leadership race will see the hopefuls whittled down to two by Thursday.