Conservative MPs have voted in the second round of their leadership contest, eliminating right-winger Suella Braverman from the race.
Former chancellor Rishi Sunak topped the ballot again with the backing of 101 MPs, while Portsmouth MP Penny Mordaunt beat Liz Truss for second place with 83 votes to Truss’s 64.
Moderate favourite Tom Tugendhat survived elimination apparently by picking up MPs who had voted for Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi, who were eliminated in the first round.
The table after the second round looks like this:
Rishi Sunak – 101
Penny Mordaunt – 83
Liz Truss – 64
Kemi Badenoch – 49
Tom Tugendhat – 32
The candidate eliminated is:
Suella Braverman – 27
The results from the first round, which took place on Wednesday, were:
Rishi Sunak – 88
Penny Mordaunt – 67
Liz Truss – 50
Kemi Badenoch – 40
Suella Braverman – 32
Tom Tugendhat – 37
The two candidates eliminated were:
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.
