Rory Stewart stayed alive in the Tory leadership race today after he received an unexpected surge in support among MPs and he emerged as a real contender to make it into the final two.
The International Development Secretary started the contest as a rank outsider but he managed to secure the backing of 37 of his colleagues during the second round of voting - almost double the 19 he got in the first round.
Attention immediately turned to how Mr Stewart could secure further support as he tries to advance tomorrow when MPs vote for the third time.
Dominic Raab's elimination from the race today means his 30 supporters are up for grabs but the vast majority of them are expected to break for Boris Johnson given their similarly hardline approaches to Brexit.
That means Mr Stewart is likely to turn his attention to winning over the supporters of Michael Gove and Sajid Javid in order to keep his campaign heading in the right direction.
Mr Gove suffered a disappointing result in today's ballot as he only managed to win the support of 41 MPs, just four more than he managed in the first round.
Meanwhile, Mr Javid squeaked into the next round after he received the backing of 33 Tory MPs - the minimum number needed to continue in the contest.
The Home Secretary's position in the contest is the most precarious of the five remaining candidates and Mr Stewart is likely to target his supporters amid speculation Mr Javid could pull out.
Dominic Raab was ejected from the Tory leadership contest tonight as he came bottom of the pile with just 30 votes
The International Development Secretary attended Cabinet today and offered an echo of what it could look like if he pulls off a shock victory in the leadership contest
It was reported immediately after the results were announced that Mr Stewart had already sent text messages to the supporters of other candidates asking them to switch their allegiance.
Heading into the second round of voting Mr Stewart said he believed his campaign was on a knife-edge but he then streaked past the minimum 33 votes needed.
Mr Stewart said he had been 'pleasantly surprised' by the result but insisted he was still the 'underdog' in the race to succeed Theresa May, with her replacement due to be announced in the week starting July 22.
'Many of these MPs didn't tell me they were going to vote for me, so I've been pleasantly surprised,' he told reporters outside the BBC studios as he arrived to take part in a Tory leadership debate in which he reiterated his opposition to a No Deal Brexit.
However, he faced criticism online during the debate as he was accused of 'manspreading' and mocked for taking his tie off midway through to apparently appear as more of a 'man of the people'.
Boris Johnson (pictured arriving at the debate tonight) was accused of plotting to 'lend' some of his massive support to rival Jeremy Hunt to close out Mr Stewart - but the tactic did not work
A spokeswoman for Mr Stewart said the massive increase in support from the first round to the second showed he could go 'all the way'.
Jeremy Hunt came second again today with 46, but he failed to make much headway since last Tuesday, adding just three votes.
Mr Johnson increased his haul from 114 to 126 as he further cemented his position as the prohibitive favourite.
But
