Johnson is set to face an early general election. His Cabinet must be ruthlessly shaped to fight it – on a No Deal platform.

Its members must be signed up to leaving on October 31. Here’s a rough draft of what the top team might look like.

Andrew Gimson’s leadership sketch: Conventional forces crush the Stewart rebellion

But a schoolboy was delighted to meet Theresa May.

From Reggie to Rory Sahib: Here at Westminster, you can smell the fear and ambition

Of course, many of the sacked ministers – Fallon, Mitchell, Shapps and a dozen others are hoping for preferment under a Boris administration.

WATCH: Cleverly – Now that I’m out of the contest, I’m backing Johnson

“I’ve seen him reach out to audiences and voters that the Conservative Party would not normally expect to be onside.”

This week’s winner in the Tory leadership election is…Johnson

The vocation of the front-runner is not to mess up. And he hasn’t. Indeed, he has picked up support – and upped the pace.

Now Malthouse withdraws from the leadership election. “There is an appetite for this contest to be over quickly.”

He leaves the field as the 1922 Committee agrees and announces rules for the conduct of the election.

Cleverly withdraws from the race: “I asked them to make a leap of faith…MPs weren’t comfortable with such a move”

“Despite much support, particularly from our party’s grassroots…it has become clear that it is highly unlikely that I would progress to the final two candidates.”

Message to the ’22: please speed up the ballots

We see no reason why the bottom three, say, shouldn’t fall out each time – rather than just the one, as previously.

Introducing our new weekly Tory leadership election podcast

Paul Goodman and Mark Wallace probe who has had a good and week, what happens next – and why the contest isn’t rising to events.

This week’s winner in the Tory leadership contest is…Gove

His announcement on EU nationals – crafted to appeal to liberal Leavers, Remainers and Softer Brexiteers – has perfect pitch in terms of the coalition he is trying to build.

Henry Hill: Leadership hopefuls queue up to disavow second referendum on Scottish independence

Also: Welsh and Scottish Labour throw their weight behind EU referendum re-run after poll drubbing; UUP and Sinn Fein leaders in trouble.

WATCH: Cleverly’s launch – A no-deal departure from the EU ‘can be delivered’, but should not be ‘pursued’, he says.

“It’s also really important we understand that not delivering Brexit would be, in my mind, significantly more damaging.”

Our survey. Next Tory Leader. So much excitement, so little change. Johnson maintains his lead.

He, Raab and Gove are in the same order as last month – first, second and third. No other candidate reaches double figures.

Next Tory Leader: Present runners and riders

There are no fewer than 11 candidates declared as we write, and at least eight others who might join the fray.

Next Tory Leader. Our Survey. Johnson dominates the table. He puts on ten points and leads by eighteen.

The pattern of results over many months suggests that the worse the position of the Conservatives, the better he does.