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Boris Johnson today surged further ahead in the Tory leadership race as Dominic Raab backed him as “the only candidate” who will take Britain out of the European Union by October 31.

“The only candidate who will now do this is Boris Johnson — and so I’ll be supporting him to become our next Prime Minister,” he told the Standard.

The strong endorsement by the former Brexit secretary was pitched to reassure Eurosceptics that Mr Johnson has the plan and determination to avoid another postponement, something he refused to be pinned down on in last night’s BBC TV debate. Mr Raab said: “We must leave the EU on October 31 — we’ve had enough delays and we need to get on with it so we can deliver on the task the British people gave us as politicians.”

He added: “Boris will make sure we leave the EU on time and move on to uniting the country behind a positive programme where everyone can benefit from the UK’s success.”

Most of Mr Raab’s 30 supporters, who include diehard “Brexit Spartans” from the European Research Group, were expected to follow him into the Johnson campaign.

The dramatic move came as Tory MPs were staging the third round of voting in the battle to succeed Theresa May as Prime Minister, with five candidates left.

In the crucial battle for second place, Environment Secretary Michael Gove was fighting to close a narrow four-vote gap between him and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid was hoping to avoid relegation by overtaking International Development Secretary Rory Stewart, whose odds lengthened after a mixed performance in the TV debate.

Bookies said Mr Stewart was falling out of favour with punters after trhe TV debate. Betway’s Alan Alger said: “Rory Stewart appears to be the big loser from Tuesday night’s TV debate, drifting out markedly to 20/1 from 7/1 to be the next Tory leader.

Favourite Mr Johnson was 1/7, followed by Mr Hunt on 10/1, Mr Gove on 20/1, and Mr Javid at 80/1.

In a surprise move, Mr Stewart told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire that his team was in talks with Michael Gove’s about “combining forces” to take on the former mayor of London.

“We’re talking about combining forces, because it’s clear that Boris is going into the last round and the question is, who is best placed to sit on the stage with Boris Johnson and who is best placed to ask the testing questions that need to be asked.”

Challenged how they could unite given their differing views on Brexit he admitted: “If neither of us were prepared to budge on our analysis of the situation, then of course we couldn’t combine as a team.”

Opponents of Mr Johnson focused their attacks on his refusal to give an absolute guarantee of Brexit by October 31 in last night’s debate, which he only said was “eminently feasible”.

From the Gove campaign, Treasury committee chair Nicky Morgan said things would “end in tears” because Mr Johnson was giving out inconsistent messages on Brexit. Mr Hunt said it was no longer clear whether Mr Johnson would guarantee hitting the deadline.

“Well, I am not entirely sure what he believes on this, having listened to him last night,” Mr Hunt told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “You have to think these things through because prime ministers have to make these judgments.” Attempting to drive a wedge between Mr Johnson and his Brexiteer backers, Mr Hunt said: “Now, the danger is that if we choose the wrong person now, we will have no trust, no negotiation, no deal, and possibly, if we have an election, no Brexit.”

Backing calls for an independent inquiry into allegations of Islamophobia in the Tory Party, Mr Hunt said: “We have been very vociferous calling out Jeremy Corbyn and anti-Semitism and if we are going to do that ... Then we have to be whiter than white ourselves.”

Mr Stewart came under pressure in a media round to explain his curious behaviour in the TV debate, including taking his tie off and pocketing it. He told Today: “I took off my tie, I think, because I wanted to take my tie off. And, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” He claimed at least two of Mr Raab’s supporters would vote for him after he deluged them with text messages appealing for support last night. “I have had some positive responses, yes,” he said. “I had a couple this morning.”

Responding to Mr Stewart’s comments about “combining” their efforts, a Gove campaign source made clear they only looking for his support, not a joint ticket. “We are in it to win it and obviously we would welcome the support of any candidate that wanted to drop out and support us.” In last night’s second round, Mr Johnson was clear out in front with 126 votes.