As it happened: UK Tory leadership race - Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss make final two

Also read | The Indian-origin leader who could become the next prime minister of UK

United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has created a following for herself thanks to her alleged resemblance to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during her first leadership battle. Dubbed “the new Iron Lady”, the 46-year-old once again is in the running to replace Boris Johnson as the Prime Minister after emerging as the top two contenders along with Rishi Sunak.

As Mordaunt is defeated, Truss and Sunak advance to the final round of the Tory leadership contest.

Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 campaign, has released the results of the final round of MP voting in the race for the Tory leadership.

These are the results:

Penny Mordaunt: 105 (+13)

Rishi Sunak: 137 (+19)

Liz Truss: 113 (+27)

Due to Penny Mordaunt's elimination, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak will advance to a head-to-head competition where Party members will vote.

The fifth ballot of Conservative MPs will determine the new party leader, and the results will be announced at 4 pm (GMT+1). The outcome of the vote will determine who advances to the next round and who is eliminated from the race to become the next Conservative leader and prime minister of the UK.

Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, and Liz Truss will discover if they have made it to the final two in the Tory leadership race sometime soon-after Boris Johnson conducts his final PMQs.

Kemi Badenock thanked her colleagues and supporters after crashing out of the PM race.

The results of the fourth round is out. Kemi Badenoch crashes out of the leadership contest while Rishi Sunak increased his tally to 118. 

Rishi Sunak - 118
Penny Mordaunt - 92
Liz Truss - 86
Kemi Badenoch - 59
 

Voting has now closed in the Tory leadership ballot fourth round. According to The Telegraph, there have been reports of a lobby that will be trying to knock Liz Truss out of the contest.

The voting has started for the fourth round in the leadership ballot. Rishi Sunak is all but guaranteed to be the final two candidates in the race as he needs just five more votes to achieve the feat.

Government won the vote of confidence with 349 in support on Monday (July 18). During the debate, Boris Johnson cited the coronavirus vaccine rollout and support of Ukraine to defend his government's record. Meanwhile, 248 MPs voted that they don't have confidence in the government. 

Penny Mordaunt said, "My vote is steady and I’m grateful to my colleagues for all their support and thrilled to be in second place once more." 

"MPs know that I’m a strong candidate, running a truly clean campaign and putting forward a positive vision for the party and our country."

It is expected that Mordaunt will be benefitted from Tugendhat's elimination. Mordaunt said, "I know that we are both committed to a clean start for our party and I believe he is one of the strongest assets on the Conservative green benches. It was an honour to stand alongside him in this contest." 

Here's what Kemi Badenoch said after the results: 

Continued momentum, closing the gap, I am the only change candidate left in the race.

After the elimination, Tom Tugendhat posted a video on his Twitter handle. He said: 

In a video posted to Twitter, Tugendhat said:

We fought for a clean start because we know that that’s what the country is crying out for.

We’ve seen that in the response to the two debates, we’ve seen that in the engagement we’ve had from people.

Now I’m going to be with you, of course, over the next two years, fighting in the council elections and then fighting again in the general election and then long into the future, because we need to make sure that our party, the Conservative Party, is able to deliver a clean start for the country and for ourselves.

But please, I’m not going to be talking about any candidates at the moment, I’ll listen to what they have to say and I’ll be making my judgment later.

Sunak got 115 votes in the third ballot of Conservative lawmakers on Monday, ahead of former defence minister Penny Mordaunt on 82 and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on 71. 

Tom Tugendhat secured the fewest votes with 31. 

Former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch came fourth in the ballot with 58 votes.

The governing Conservative Party's 358 lawmakers will whittle the field down to the final two this week, staging votes which will eliminate the candidate with the fewest votes each time. The results of the next ballot are due at 1400 GMT on Tuesday.

Former British finance minister Rishi Sunak wins the most support in the third round of voting to find a replacement for Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

Tom Tugendhat knocked out of the Tory leadership race after the latest voting. 

The results of the third round of the leadership ballot are declared. Tom Tugendhat will be knocked out during this round. 

Although a vote of confidence in the government is being held by MPs, it is far from the only important event taking place in Westminster this evening.This evening, Conservative MPs will vote for their preferred candidate for prime minister a third time, narrowing the field of surviving Tory candidates in the race for the party's leadership.Voting is scheduled to take place from 5 to 7 p.m., with the outcome anticipated around 8 p.m.

The confidence vote won't happen until after 10 p.m., and the results shouldn't come in for another 20 to 30 minutes.After rejecting a similar move from Labour, the administration has taken the uncharacteristic step of submitting a motion of confidence in itself.

Boris Johnson attributes the rising cost of living on the price of oil and the conflict in the Ukraine, claiming that his government has taken care of the economy and is helping households. He bases this claim on the most recent unemployment statistics, which he claims are at a 50-year low.

He adds that taxes are being lowered for individuals on low wages and declares, "I am happy of what we have done throughout the last three years to advocate people.

Johnson continues by discussing criminality and claims to have removed hundreds of blades from the streets by using the stop and search procedure, which he refers to as "kind."

Then, he discusses social and health care, claiming that his government is bridging the gap between them.

Johnson begins by describing his government as one of the most "dynamic" in history and outlining the seats Labour lost while he was prime minister.

Additionally, Johnson extols the virtues of Brexit, claiming that his government regained control and charging Sir Keir Starmer of "thwarting the will of the people" in this regard.

Additionally, he stated that it was "appallingly difficult to manage" the spread of COVID, but added that the government had protected the NHS and had implemented a vaccine more quickly than "any similar country."

As MPs once more decided to reduce the field, television executives were compelled to cancel a planned debate between candidates for the leadership of the British Conservative party.

The third televised debate was scheduled to take place on Tuesday night, and the five surviving candidates — Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Kemi Badenoch, Penny Mordaunt, and Tom Tugendhat — were scheduled to participate.

But former finance minister Sunak and Foreign Secretary Truss pulled out, Sky News, which was due to host the programme, said.

Despite "vigorous" disagreements throughout the election, Steve Barclay has assured the Tories will stand behind whoever is chosen as the next prime minister.

Reporters questioned him about if the discussion was becoming "poison," and he responded that having a robust field of contenders is "hugely healthy."

It's excellent that we have a thorough and heated debate on the topics, he said, adding that the party will come together behind the new prime minister.

Boris Johnson asserted that the public sector and the free market economy will be in good form when he left government in a speech at the Farnborough Air Show this morning.

Watch: Rishi Sunak says he is proud of his parents-in-law

The 42-year-old former Chancellor, who was born in the UK, was grilled during a contentious television debate about his wife's tax affairs, which made headlines earlier this year when she voluntarily gave up her legal non-domicile status in order to pay taxes on her Indian income from shares of Infosys, which were also owned by the UK.
 

In a cruel moment on television, none of the Tory leadership contenders pledged to include Boris Johnson in their cabinet.Tom Tugendhat, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, and Kemi Badenoch were twice requested to raise their hands in response to the question of whether or not they would be willing to allow the departing PM to continue serving.Even though they had plenty of opportunities to raise their hands, none of them did so.

The Tory leadership debate scheduled for tomorrow night has been cancelled, according to Sky News, after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss declared they would not participate.

On Monday, MPs will vote in the third round of the election to select Boris Johnson's replacement, which will reduce the field of candidates for the Tory leadership to just four.

In the most recent TV debate, which ITV hosted on Sunday, the surviving candidates engaged in a number of heated exchanges as the competition among party members for a spot in the run-off election heated up.

Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor who won the first two votes, had an economic disagreement with Penny Mordaunt, the minister of international trade, and Liz Truss, the foreign secretary.

Also read | Second live TV debate between PM hopefuls in Conservative Party sees heated exchanges

The second live TV debate between candidates of UK's Conservative Party aiming for the top job was filled with barbs and five remaining players clashed on Sunday (July 17). Global Warming and Climate Change saw heated debate among the contenders. Britain's climate minister, COP26 president  Alok Sharma has threatened to resign if winner of the race within the Conservative Party retreats from the 'net zero' target. The discussion between the prime ministerial hopefuls came amid record-breaking heatwave in the UK.
 

This morning, Rishi Sunak surpassed Penny Mordaunt as the betting favourite to lead the Conservative Party.

Following yesterday night's televised discussion, the former chancellor is now 6/5 to become the next prime minister, according to the most recent odds from Betfair Exchange.

Earlier this month, Mr. Sunak was the front-runner, but Ms. Mordaunt overtook him as the favourite last week.

Liz Truss is currently at 7/2 and Kemi Badenoch is at 15/1, with Ms. Mordaunt currently at 11/4 to move up to Number 10.

Tom Tugendhat, the last remaining Tory candidate for the leadership, is 139/1.

Rishi Sunak, the front-runner in the UK's election for prime minister, fought back against media criticism of his wife Akshata's family fortune by expressing his delight in what his Indian parents-in-law, Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and Sudha Murty, had accomplished.

The 42-year-old former Chancellor, who was born in the UK, was grilled during a contentious television debate about his wife's tax affairs, which made headlines earlier this year when she voluntarily gave up her legal non-domicile status in order to pay taxes on her Indian income from shares of Infosys, which were also owned by the UK.