Braintree's MP has ruled himself out of the running to be the Conservative candidate for London Mayor in 2020.

Rumours began circling over the weekend that Mr Cleverly, who is originally from London, would be chosen to take on Labour's Sadiq Khan in two years time.

However the Conservative Party Deputy Chairman has now ruled himself out of being his party's candidate, saying he enjoyed fulfilling his current duties too much to change.

In a statement on Twitter he said: "I love being the MP for Braintree, love being Deputy Chairman of the Conservatives.

"We will have a strong candidate who will beat weak, petulant, and disappointing Sadiq Khan in 2020 - but it won't be me."

The Tories are set to choose their candidate for the mayoral election early, with several other big name politicians already ruling themselves out of the running.

Mr Cleverly is a close ally of former London Mayor and current Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

Sadiq Khan beat Tory Zac Goldsmith in the 2016 race by nearly 250,000 votes.