The Louisiana Republican has not proven whether he could muster the 217 Republican votes needed to overcome Democratic opposition and assume the role second in line to the presidency.

Scalise, the Majority Leader, had secured his party’s nomination to replace ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy but was still short of the 217 votes needed to be elected on the House floor, as several of his fellow Republicans said they would not support him.

Republicans could afford no more than four defections - they control the House by a narrow 221-212 margin - if they wanted to end the House’s leaderless bout that has already lasted nine days.

“I just shared with my colleagues that I was withdrawing my name as a candidate for our speaker designee,” Scalise told reporters.

“If you look at over the last few weeks, if you look at where our conference is, there is still work to be done … There are still some people that have their own agendas,” he said.