Sajid Javid has won the backing of Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson in his bid to become the next prime minister.
Ms Davidson described the home secretary as “the real deal” and “the man for the job” in an article for the Mail on Sunday.
Mr Javid welcomed her support, tweeting: “So proud to have Ruth’s backing. There’s nobody like her. Together, we’re going to show what modern Tories can do.”
The home secretary also set out plans to use hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to fund Irish border technology in an effort to achieve a Brexit breakthrough, saying there was a moral duty on the UK.
“I think it’s morally justified to pay for that because we both have signed the Good Friday Agreement, we are both absolutely committed to peace on the island of Ireland and – given that we voted to leave and that’s what’s changing the status quo on the island of Ireland – I think it’s morally right that we say, ‘look, we’ll pay because we’ve caused this’.”
However communities secretary James Brokenshire gave his backing to Boris Johnson, saying he has the “character, the ingenuity, the resilience and an ability to convey a compelling message”.
Mr Brokenshire told the Mail on Sunday that Mr Johnson will “drive an optimistic One Nation vision beyond Brexit on schools, hospitals, jobs and the economy, enabling greater prosperity and opportunity”.
Meanwhile Rory Stewart’s campaign team pointed to polling by Opinium which shows him neck-and-neck with the former foreign secretary on the question of “would they make a good prime minister”.
An ally of the International Development Secretary said: “It’s clear – this polling shows Rory Stewart is the people’s candidate and is the ideal person to go up against Boris in the final two.”
Earlier, Dominic Raab said the possibility of suspending Parliament – possibly dragging the Queen into a constitutional row – should not be ruled out in order to secure Brexit.
Following Theresa May’s formal resignation as Tory leader on Friday, the starting gun has been fired for the race to replace her.
The nomination process will take place on Monday, with candidates requiring eight MPs to back them in order to enter the race, with the first round of voting on Thursday.
Additional reporting by PA
