Boris Johnson has announced that he will seek to make a Commons comeback as MP for Uxbridge & South Ruislip at the general election.
The London Mayor put an end to speculation over his plans by confirming that he has applied to be the Tory candidate in the safe seat next year.
Mr Johnson signalled his intention to re-enter parliament earlier this month, a move widely interpreted as positioning to take over from David Cameron as Conservative leader in the future.
However, the Prime Minister has insisted he would be delighted to have the Mayor back in parliament, saying he wanted his "star players on the pitch".
Mr Johnson said today that he hoped to "make the case" that he was the best person to represent Uxbridge & South Ruislip, held by Sir John Randall with a majority of 11,000 in 2010.
"I'm sure there will be plenty of excellent candidates and I hope very much to make my case to the association," he told the Evening Standard.
The Conservative candidate for the seat is due to be announced on September 12.
Mr Johnson has said that if he is elected to the Commons next May he will still serve out his term as Mayor, which ends in 2016.
Mr Johnson previously served as MP for Henley for seven years before leaving to take up the City Hall reins in 2008.
In a sign of potential tensions to come, the Mayor risked infuriating Mr Cameron over the weekend by calling for tougher anti-terrorism laws - including a presumption that Britons travelling to Iraq and Syria without notifying UK authorities are engaged in criminal behaviour.
Downing Street has poured cold water on the idea, stressing that police and security services are not "pushing" for such measures.
Labour's London spokesman Sadiq Khan said: "Boris Johnson's announcement is confirmation of how weak David Cameron is and how out of touch the Tories are.
"When millions of people are struggling under a cost of living crisis, the Tories are turning inwards, jockeying for position in a future leadership contest.
"What Britain needs is a change of direction. For all their squabbles over who leads them, all the Tories offer is more of the same failure."
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