Andrea Leadsom has pulled out of the race to be the next Conservative leader and Prime Minister.
Speaking outside her home in central London, the energy minister said a nine-week leadership campaign to succeed David Cameron at such a critical time for the UK would be "highly undesirable".
The shock move leaves Theresa May as the only candidate - potentially clearing the way for her to be named Tory leader and PM as early as today.
Mrs Leadsom said Mrs May was ideally placed to implement a British exit from the European Union and offered the Home Secretary her full support.
However, it is not clear whether party rules would require the backbench 1922 Committee to seek another contender to appear on the ballot paper alongside Mrs May for a planned vote of 150,000 Conservative members.
Graham Brady, the chairman of the committee, will make a statement about the contest shortly.
Mrs Leadsom's statement a little more than an hour after Mrs May launched her national campaign with a speech in Birmingham.
Mrs May sought to present herself as the candidate of unity and experience, with the support of an "overwhelming" majority of Conservative MPs.
She finished top in the MPs' ballot last week with 199 votes to Mrs Leadsom's 84.
Mrs Leadsom's leadership bid got off to a disastrous start when she was forced to apologise to Mrs May after appearing to suggest being a mother gave her an edge over the childless Home Secretary as a future PM.
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