Boris Johnson has emerged as the clear frontrunner in the first round of votes for the new Tory leader and prime minister.
The former foreign secretary won 114 votes, followed by Jeremy Hunt on 43 and Michael Gove with 37.
Andrea Leadsom, Mark Harper and Esther McVey failed to win enough votes, meaning they have all been knocked out of the Conservative leadership race.
To follow events as they unfolded, see our live coverage below
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of the first ballot to select the new Tory leader.
Here's how it works: Candidates need at least 17 votes to go through to the second round. Anyone below this threshold is automatically eliminated. Even if all the hopefuls meet this target, the one with the lowest votes overall will still have to exit the race.
It comes as Labour lost a critical vote on a bid to prevent a future Tory prime minister from forcing through a no-deal Brexit. Lizzy Buchan has the story:
MPs lose vote in bid to prevent future Tory PM forcing no-deal Brexit
Corbyn could be heard admonishing Tory MPs: ‘You won’t be cheering in September’
Today's ballot will take place between 10am and 12pm, with the results due to be announced at 1pm.
Parliament may have run out of options to block a no-deal Brexit by the next prime minister, Conservative former minister Sir Oliver Letwin has warned.
The Commons voted yesterday to reject a Labour motion, backed by other opposition parties, which would have enabled MPs to take control of the business of the House with a view to preventing a no-deal.
Sir Oliver, who was behind a series of cross-party attempts to block a no-deal, said there may be no more opportunities for Parliament to intervene.
"Under the Article 50 process, on 31 October the UK leaves the EU regardless of whether we do or don't have a deal in place unless somebody does something to alter that," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
"If the government doesn't bring something before Parliament, Parliament won't have a chance to take a view on that as things currently stand because we have run out of all the possibilities any of us can, at the moment anyway, think of for Parliament to be able to insist on having a view.
"I have really struggled very hard to think of every available opportunity and I can't currently think of any more."
All 313 Conservative MPs can take part in today's ballot meaning there are, in theory, enough votes up for grabs for each of the 10 candidates to reach the 17-vote threshold.
Based on the latest bookmakers' odds, those at risk of ending up with the lowest number of votes overall are Esther McVey (130/1) and Mark Harper (160/1).
Sajid Javid has said he is baffled by his exclusion from the state banquet for Donald Trump during the US president's state visit the UK.
The home secretary, who previously criticised Mr Trump for his endorsement of the right-wing Britain First group, was the only senior Cabinet minister not to be invited. Here's Lizzy Buchan on the Tory leadership contender's comments:
Sajid Javid says being snubbed from Trump state banquet was 'odd'
Home secretary was only holder of a great office of state not invitedAfter today's ballot, the remaining candidates will have a few days to consolidate their support before the second ballot takes place next Tuesday.
Candidates will then need at least 33 votes to go through, meaning the field could be whittled down by two or three names.
Ballots continue until just two candidates remain in the contest.
A third ballot will take place on 19 June, with provision for a fourth and fifth ballot on 20 June if necessary.
The two candidates left at the end of the ballots will then spend a month campaigning across the country.
At the same time, members of the Conservative Party will receive ballot papers allowing them to choose which of the two names they would prefer as leader.
The winner will be announced in the week beginning Monday 22 July.
Voting in the first ballot to select the new Tory leader is set to begin in five minutes.
Boris Johnson has the support of over half of Conservative Home readers, a straw poll of its readers has found.
The former foreign secretary got 53 per cent of the vote, while Rory Stewart came in at second place, but more than 40 points behind Mr Johnson.
He was followed by Dominic Raab, Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid.
Former health minister Steve Brine was first in the queue to cast his ballot.
He told the Press Association he was voting for Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary.
As MPs voted, Andrea Leadsom, a leadership contender and former leader of the House of Commons, said: "I'm feeling very positive and optimistic and hopeful that I will be getting enough support from colleagues to go through to the next round."
The BBC's Nick Eardley has a tally based on publicly declared support showing Boris Johnson is far ahead with the support of 83 MPs.
He is followed by Jeremy Hunt on 34 and Michael Gove on 32.
Sajid Javid and Matt Hancock narrowly passed the 17-vote threshold, but Rory Stewart, Mark Marper, Esther McVey and Andrea Leadsom fell below.
Asked who he thought would be eliminated today, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is backing Boris Johnson, said: "Mark Harper doesn't seem in a very strong position.
"The bottom one goes and anyone under 5 per cent goes. So, it could be more than one who's knocked out."
Esther McVey, a leadership candidate and former work and pensions secretary said: "I'm the outsider, I know that."
Asked who she would urge her supporters to back if she is eliminated, Ms McVey said: "I'm not answering that yet."
Asked who he voted for, Michael Gove, environment secretary and leadership contender said: "The best candidate."
Rory Stewart tweeted he has been re-reading Irish poet Seamus Heaney's The Cure at Troy, and proceeded to recite it.
Theresa May has refused to say who she voted for.
"That's none of your business," the prime minister joked as she left the committee room in the Commons where the ballot is being held.
Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, has said today "felt a bit like the morning of my wedding".
"Something big is going to change but don't quite know how it will unfold," he tweeted.
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