The former universities minister Sam Gyimah is the latest Conservative MP to announce he is entering the party’s leadership race, calling for a “final say on the Brexit deal” as the only way to break the parliamentary deadlock.

There is a packed field of 13 candidates vying to replace Theresa May as prime minister, with Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab and Michael Gove the bookies’ favourites. However, Gyimah is the only candidate offering a second Brexit referendum.

“We face a very stark and unwelcome choice,” Gyimah told Sky. “It is either no deal or revoke via a second referendum, possibly. But what most of the candidates are offering is no deal and a fudge on Theresa May’s deal, which has been heavily defeated.”

He said the nationwide “broad sweep of opinion” on how the UK should move forward with Brexit was not being reflected in the Tory leadership contest, which is why he was putting himself forward.

“Parliament is deadlocked, we all know that, we want to move forward and we want to be able to bring the country together,” he added. “And that is why I think a final say on the Brexit deal is the way to achieve that.”

Gyimah, the MP for East Surrey since 2010, said as prime minister he would legislate for a second referendum with no deal, Theresa May’s deal and a remain option on the ballot paper. In that three-option referendum, Gyimah said he would vote remain but would not “actively campaign” for it as prime minister.

He called on the Conservative party to put the country first. “What makes us successful is when we put the country first and when we are pragmatic,” he said. “And I will be the only candidate in the race offering this option.”

A vast majority of the public supported a people’s vote, Gyimah said, and he referred to the chaos that has historically been wrought within the Tory party over Europe. “If we want to govern in the interests of the country, this is an option we have to consider seriously.”

Quick Guide Tory leadership contenders Show Jeremy Hunt His style is notably technocratic, with few rhetorical flourishes and an emphasis on his consensual approach and long record as a minister, notably during more than five years as health secretary, a traditional graveyard of ministerial careers. Hunt’s attempts to talk up a backstory as an 'underestimated' entrepreneur can fall flat given he is also the son of an admiral and was head boy at Charterhouse. Overall, Hunt’s approach can seem uninspiring and hard to pin down in terms of core beliefs, hence the 'Theresa in trousers' nickname among some Tory MPs – one that is more catchy than accurate (since May herself often wears trousers). In the final round of MP voting Hunt edged out Michael Gove, 77 votes to 75. Boris Johnson Johnson’s progress to Downing Street appeared unstoppable even before an overwhelming victory in the first round of voting among MPs. Most of his colleagues believe it is now all but inevitable that he will be Britain’s next prime minister. His well-disciplined campaign team will continue with their strategy of subjecting him to minimal media exposure, though once the field is narrowed down to two, the final pair will appear in more than a dozen head-to-head hustings for Tory members. The team’s main aim is simply to keep heads down and avoid Johnson creating headlines for the wrong reasons. It may not have worked. Johnson came first in the final round of MP voting with 160 votes.



He insisted he was not positioning himself for a cabinet post and said he would find it difficult to serve as a minister under a leader pursuing a no-deal Brexit.

Gyimah, a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, resigned from the government in November in protest against May’s Brexit deal, which he said was not in Britain’s national interest and would mean the UK lost its voice in the EU while still having to follow the bloc’s rules. He said at the time that another referendum could be the only option if MPs rejected May’s deal, as they did.

Elsewhere, a number of other Tory leadership hopefuls set out policy proposals on Sunday. Sajid Javid said he would consider scrapping the top rate of income tax in a bid to boost the economy. Raab has pledged to cut income tax by a penny a year – 5p over the course of a parliament to 15p in the pound for the basic rate – which critics have claimed would cost £25bn.

The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has suggested slashing corporation tax to Irish levels of 12.5%, from its current 19%.

Gove is said to be preparing to delay Brexit until the end of next year rather than leave without a deal on 31 October. while former Commons leader Andrea Leadsom has set out a three-point plan to deliver Brexit, including introducing legislation to guarantee citizens’ rights for Britons in the EU and Gibraltar and EU citizens in the UK.

Meanwhile, Liz Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has announced she is backing Johnson to be the next prime minister.