The Tory leadership hopefuls have been whittled down to five and are preparing for two live televised debates before another vote on Monday. And we want to know who you think is going to win the contest to be party leader and therefore our next prime minister.
Penny Mordaunt narrowed the gap with frontrunner Rishi Sunak and increased her lead over Liz Truss in the second round of voting by Tory MPs on Thursday.
The former defence secretary won 83 votes, while the former chancellor won 101 – a gap of 18, three lower than the gap after the first round.
Suella Braverman, who was knocked out of the contest, announced she would now back Ms Truss, and if her supporters did the same, the foreign secretary would rival Ms Mordaunt for support.
Meanwhile, former Brexit minister Lord Frost has thrown his support behind Ms Truss and urged Kemi Badenoch to pull out of the Tory leadership contest and back the foreign secretary.
He called for “unity among free marketeers” and praised Ms Badenoch but said she should withdraw “in return for a serious job in a Truss administration”.
Tom Tugendhat has vowed to fight on, despite receiving the backing of just 32 Conservative MPs.
Elsewhere, Ms Truss has been accused of “black-ops” in her desperate fight to stay in the race, as the party’s right-wing boosted her chances of being the next prime minister. Two leading supporters of the foreign secretary branded key rival Ms Mordaunt unfit to be prime minister as the contest turned nasty and undermined her claim to be fighting a clean campaign. The Tory infighting comes as one senior Truss supporter revealed frustration with MPs who have failed to vote for her as promised, telling The Independent: “This is the most duplicitous lying electorate you have ever come across.”
The next round of voting is due on Monday, with subsequent rounds if required until two candidates are left, who will then battle it out over the summer to win the support of Conservative members. Their choice of the next prime minister will be announced on September 5.
Who do you think will win the Tory leadership contest? Let us know by voting in the poll and then come back soon to see the results.
