Chancellor Gordon Brown is close to becoming Britain's next prime minister after his left-wing Labour leadership rival John McDonnell conceded defeat.
The Labour Party said 307 of its 353 MPs had nominated Mr Brown to be next leader of the party. The new leader automatically becomes prime minister once Tony Blair steps down at the end of June after a decade in power.
British Chancellor Gordon Brown: certain to succeed Tony Blair as prime minister
Mr McDonnell accepted that it was "mathematically impossible" for him to secure the 45 nominations by Labour MPs needed to go forward as a candidate and force a contested election.
Mr Brown's campaign manager Jack Straw said that he was "delighted" at the way the party had rallied round the chancellor.
He said that Mr Brown would be making a statement after the voting figures are formally announced.
Under Labour Party rules, he will not assume the leadership until the special leadership conference in Manchester on June 24th.
He will have to wait another three days, until June 27th, when Tony Blair tenders his resignation to the queen before he finally becomes prime minister.
The news that he would stand unopposed created a shift of power in Westminster, boosting Mr Brown's standing and prompting calls for Mr Blair to justify why he is not handing over power immediately.
Setting out his stall in recent days, Mr Brown has pledged to make education an investment priority and has tried to seize the green initiative by announcing plans to build five environmentally friendly "eco-towns".
He has accepted mistakes were made in Iraq but has ruled out an immediate pullout of British troops.