Hardline Brexiteer Esther McVey today confirmed she will be running for the Tory leadership.
The former welfare-slasher and 50/1 outsider joined a growing field of Tory hopefuls today as she announced her bid on TalkRadio.
She said: "I've always said quite clearly if I got enough support from colleagues then yes I would, and now people have come forward and I have got that support.
"So I will be going forward."
Theresa May has refused calls to quit before her Brexit deal is done and a formal leadership contest is not under way.
But that hasn't stopped a tide of Tory MPs jostling for position in a hope to be considered for the top job.
Theresa May REFUSES to quit over Brexit despite mounting Tory fury
Next Tory leader odds: Candidates and hopefuls to replace Theresa May
Boris Johnson is regularly cited as the favourite of the 120,000 or so Tory members who would elect a leader.
Leavers Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove and Dominic Raab posed for cringeworthy photos with their families over the weekend.
And Remainers Amber Rudd and David Gauke - who could run on joint tickets with Brexiteers - were giving wide-ranging speeches on Britain's future this morning.
Jobcentre coaches told to help people switch careers in new plan by DWP chief
Former GMTV presenter Ms McVey became notorious among benefit claimants after working as a Minister and later Secretary of State in the Department for Work and Pensions.
Her blunt style drew floods of criticism even when she managed to secure limited extra money for cash-starved Universal Credit, and U-turned on a benefit cut for the disabled.
Over the years, she 7 comments by Esther McVey that led her to be called an 'alarming' choice for Tory benefits chief which turned her into a lightning rod for anger about benefits.
7 comments by Esther McVey that led her to be called an 'alarming' choice for Tory benefits chief
She was ousted from her Wirral West seat in 2015 after a sustained campaign against her, but returned in George Osborne's ultra-safe Tatton seat in 2017.
Ms McVey told the House of Commons in December 2013: "In the UK it is right that, you know, more people are visiting - which you'd expect - going to foodbanks.
"As time is tough, we are all having to pay back this £1.5 trillion debt personally which spiralled under Labour."
To furious heckles she added: "The community has come together to support one another - that must be a positive move."
Defending the sanctions system, accused of stopping people's benefits for months for minor mistakes, she told a Commons committee in 2013: "What does a teacher do in a school?
"A teacher would tell you off, or give you lines and detentions, or whatever it is, but at the same time they have your best interest at heart.
"They are teaching you, they are educating you, but at the same time they will also have the ability to sanction you."
Ms McVey said in a written statement in February 2015: "Universal Credit claimants who refuse to accept a zero hours contract job offer, without good reason, can be subject to a sanction."
And she prompted a backlash in 2014 by claiming there was "no robust evidence" linking food bank use to Tory welfare cuts.
New DWP chief Amber Rudd has since admitted there was a link between food banks and Universal Credit.
