CHESTER-BORN Tory MP Matt Hancock has made it past the first hurdle in the race to become Prime Minister.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and West Suffolk MP secured the backing of enough Conservative colleagues as the process of whittling down the 10 candidates began in earnest today (Thursday, June 13).

The 10 Tories had to secure 17 votes to progress to the next round, and/or avoid being the candidate with the fewest number of votes.

And 40-year-old Hancock, who grew up in Cheshire and was educated at Farndon Primary School, The King’s School Chester and West Cheshire College, secured 20 votes.

In perhaps an acknowledgement he was not among the favourites to succeed Theresa May as Prime Minister, Mr Hancock subsequently wrote on Twitter: "Thanks so much for the fantastic support - terrific to have more votes from colleagues than I could have hoped for."

The bookies make Mr Hancock the least likely of the remaining seven to be PM, with odds as long as 200/1 – although those were the same odds bookies offered on Jeremy Corbyn becoming Labour leader in 2015.

Boris Johnson secured the backing of the most Tory MPs with 114 votes, followed by Jeremy Hunt with 43 and Michael Gove with 37.

The three eliminated were Andrea Leadsom, Mark Harper and Tatton MP Esther McVey, the latter attracting the fewest votes with just nine.

The next round of voting will take place on June 18, with contenders needing to attract 33 votes to stay in the race, and avoid receiving the fewest number of votes.

The process repeats until there are two remaining candidates, from which a postal vote involving Conservative Party members takes place, the winner becoming the new Tory leader and Prime Minister.

It is possible that, like in the 2016 leadership race to replace David Cameron, some of the remaining seven Conservative candidates will drop out of contention voluntarily, in order to quicken the process.