Conservative MPs have voted in the first round of their leadership contest, eliminating Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi as the two least favoured candidates.
Former chancellor Rishi Sunak topped the ballot with the backing of 88 MPs, while Portsmouth MP Penny Mordaunt beat Liz Truss for second place with 67 votes to Truss’s 50.
The table after the first round looks like this:
Rishi Sunak – 88
Penny Mordaunt – 67
Liz Truss – 50
Kemi Badenoch – 40
Suella Braverman – 32
Tom Tugendhat – 37
The two candidates eliminated are:
Jeremy Hunt – 18
Nadhim Zahawi – 25
MPs are set to vote against and will continue to eliminate more candidates, until two just two remain. The final two will be put to the wider rank-and-file Tory membership, who will elect the new leader – who will become Britain’s new prime minister.
