The MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale is now supporting Rishi Sunak after Boris Johnson announced he was pulling out of the race to be the next Prime Minister.
David Morris tweeted that he was now backing the former Chancellor Mr Sunak after previously throwing his support behind ex-PM Mr Johnson.
"Now @BorisJohnson has pulled out of the contest, I will be joining @RishiSunak team," said the Morecambe MP on his official Twitter page on Sunday evening.
"Rishi is experienced, competent and will make a great PM. He has the support of all wings of the Conservative Party and will be able to unite the party and provide stability for the country."
On Thursday, Mr Morris had tweeted his support of Mr Johnson.
"@BorisJohnson please come back to the UK your country needs you!!! We need you to unite the party and bring the country together again."
It looked as though Mr Johnson, who resigned as Prime Minister in July following a series of scandals, would most likely stand for leadership of the Conservative party again after he cut short a holiday to the Caribbean and flew back to the UK.
The former PM (pictured below) spent the weekend canvassing support of Tory MPs in the battle to replace Liz Truss, who resigned on Thursday.
Then on Sunday night, the former Prime Minister issued a statement to announce he would not be standing after all.
"In the last few days I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who suggested that I should once again contest the Conservative Party leadership, both among the public and among friends and colleagues in Parliament. I have been attracted because I led our party into a massive election victory less than three years ago - and I believe I am therefore uniquely placed to avert a general election now.
"A general election would be a further disastrous distraction just when the Government must focus on the economic pressures faced by families across the country. I believe I am well placed to deliver a Conservative victory in 2024 - and tonight I can confirm that I have cleared the very high hurdle of 102 nominations, including a proposer and a seconder, and I could put my nomination in tomorrow.
"There is a very good chance that I would be successful in the election with Conservative Party members - and that I could indeed be back in Downing Street on Friday. But in the course of the last days I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do. You can't govern effectively unless you have a united party in parliament.
"And though I have reached out to both Rishi (Sunak) and Penny (Mordaunt) - because I hoped that we could come together in the national interest - we have sadly not been able to work out a way of doing this. Therefore I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds.
"I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time."
Mr Morris told the BBC he was "flabbergasted" at Mr Johnson's decision to withdraw,
"I was on the meeting with Boris and team not so long ago - within the past hour," he said on Sunday night.
"And I have got to say that I was absolutely flabbergasted. It's just one of those occasions where you just don't believe it is really happening.
"However, look - I'll say like it is. It's time for the grown-ups, time for backing Rishi. I backed him last time. I've got loyalty to Boris Johnson. And you've got to go with where your heart is.
"I think Rishi will be a fine prime minister."
As of Monday morning, 155 MPs had backed Mr Sunak to be the next leader of the Tories.
Just 25 had backed Ms Mordaunt, the Leader of the House of Commons, who is the only other candidate standing in the race.
If she does not reach the threshold of 100 MPs by 2pm on Monday, Mr Sunak will automatically become Prime Minister.
If she does, there will be a vote of Conservative MPs and potentially an online vote of Tory party members to decide the country's next leader.
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