Media reports say former United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pulled out of leadership race to replace Liz Truss.  

CNBC says that despite being ousted from office just three months ago, some Conservative MPs had backed Johnson for the top job, and he reportedly told allies over the last couple of days that he would formally join the contest.

But in a statement late Sunday, Johnson reportedly said it was “simply not the right time.”  He added he had “cleared the very high hurdle of 102 nominations” to take part in the latter stages of the contest. Around 60 lawmakers had publicly backed the ex-PM but there had been question marks over exactly how many nominations he had received, according to CNBC.

Johnson mentioned his two rivals in his statement, Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, who both have officially entered the contest.

Former Finance Minister Sunak is reportedly now the red hot favorite to be the next British leader with around 140 nominations so far.