Former chancellor Rishi Sunak has won the first round of votes in the Conservative leadership contest, which saw former cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt and incumbent chancellor Nadhim Zahawi eliminated from the running.
Sunak topped the voting with 88 in round one, with trade minister Penny Mordaunt second on 67 votes and foreign secretary Liz Truss in third with 50, as six candidates from the eight on the ballot progressed to the second round of voting.
The second round is now underway with a result expected by 15:00 on Thursday afternoon (July 14). The candidate that receives the fewest votes in this round will be eliminated.
Sunak said that he felt “great” about topping the first round of votes by Conservative MPs, while current runner-up Mordaunt said that she was “very honoured” by the support she has received thus far, having polled well among both Tory MPs and the Conservative party membership.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Truss said that it was time for Conservative colleagues to rally behind "the candidate who will cut taxes, deliver the real economic change we need from day one and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine.”
The spokesperson added that Truss is an experienced enough candidate to “deliver the benefits of Brexit from day one, grow our economy and support working families.”
Truss supporter Simon Clarke, chief secretary to the Treasury, called on the right of the Conservative party to unite behind one candidate and referred to his preferred contender as the "sensible option."
Truss herself has said she is ready to be PM "from day one" and will slash taxes to stimulate the economy, as she delivered a campaign speech in a bid to regain momentum in the race for Number 10.
Elsewhere, former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch (40 votes), backbencher Tom Tugendhat (37) and attorney general Suella Braverman (32) remain in contention.
Zahawi and Hunt fell out of the race after round one, receiving 25 and 18 votes, respectively, which were both short of the threshold of 30 required to proceed.
Paying tribute to his campaign team and supporters for their efforts, Hunt tweeted after the result was announced: "I want to thank my incredible team of loyal and talented supporters who put their faith in me. It’s become obvious to me you only get one big shot at this, and I had mine in 2019.
"Nevertheless, it’s clear that our party has an exciting future, with the amazing array of talent on offer in this contest, and I feel confident that we are on track to win back trust."
Hunt has since declared that he will be supporting Sunak in the remainder of the contest, whom he hailed as "one of the most decent people" that he had encountered in politics.
The Conservatives are whittling down the candidates to a final two by July 21. Voting will then be extended to the party’s grassroots members, who amount to some 160,000 people. They will have the remainder of the summer to cast their ballot with Boris Johnson’s successor as Tory leader - and the next prime minister - to be announced on September 5.
