Gordon Brown will take over as Prime Minister unopposed after nominations for the position of Labour leader closed at 12.30pm today with the Chancellor the only candidate to succeed Tony Blair.

Mr Brown was expected to make a statement later this afternoon, after the deadline for rivals to submit their applications closed with the leader-in-waiting receiving 313 nominations out of a total of 353 MPs.

The only man planning to contest the leadership, the leftwinger John McDonnell, conceded last night after only raising 29 nominees, well short of the minimum of 45 needed to mount a challenge.

It means the Chancellor will be given a "coronation" as Labour leader when Mr Blair stands down on June 27, giving him the position of Prime Minister which he has coveted for 13 years.

Mr Blair was expected to comment on the matter during a visit to Washington today.

Nominations have also closed for the position of deputy leader, with six candidates getting the minimum of 45 MPs they needed to stand.

They will be Hilary Benn, the International Development Secretary (47 nominations), the party chairman Hazel Blears (49), the backbencher John Cruddas (49), the Norhtern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain (51), the Justice Minister Harriet Harman (65) and Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary (73).

Many of the MPs who did not nominate the Chancellor last night said they did so because they were reluctant to give their backing to a coronation, even though they said they would vote for him in a contest.

Frank Field, the former welfare minister and critic of Mr Brown, said: “I’m not in the business of nominating for nominations’ sake.” Charles Clarke, who ruled himself out of the running in an interview in The Times, also said he would not be nominating Mr Brown even though he would vote for him. Peter Kilfoyle will not back Mr McDonnell.

Other MPs complained at the lack of a contest. Siobhain McDonagh said: “Nomination is about supporting a candidate in a contested election; I do not believe this is a contested election.” Sylvia Heal said that she would not nominate as she was a deputy Commons speaker, although she would vote in any subsequent elections, the result of which will be made public.

The deputy contest will dominate the next few weeks. Mr Cruddas, the only backbencher standing, said he had earlier nominated Mr Brown after hearing what the Chancellor had to say. “I wanted to listen to what Gordon has had to say and I’ve been impressed by his openness and his humility,” he said.

“He has shown that he is prepared to listen to the party and the country. He is clearly the consensus choice and I am happy the party has been able to coalesce around him. I am particularly encouraged by his commitment to build new social housing, which I believe is the biggest issue facing people in the country.”

The extent to which the Left is behind Mr Cruddas was high-lighted by research from Philip Cowley, of the University of Nottingham, showing 85 per cent of MPs nominating him had voted against the Labour whip.

Almost half of the MPs supporting Peter Hain and Hilary Benn - 48 per cent - have rebelled against the Government in the Commons. In contrast, just 4 per cent of MPs behind Hazel Blears, the Blairite candidate, had voted against the Labour whip.

His analysis showed more than half of those nominating both Ms Blears and Harriet Harman were women, compared with just 6 per cent of those backing Mr Benn.

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