former chancellor Rishi Sunak won the most votes in the second round of voting to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister, as one candidate was eliminated. Mr Sunak came out on top with 101 votes, followed by the junior trade minister and the bookmakers’ favourite Penny Mordaunt out of 83 votes and Minister of Foreign Affairs Liz Truss out of 64 votes. Attorney General Suella Braverman was eliminated by 27 votes. Sky News political editor Beth Rigby said it is “wide open” to all contenders.
Ms Rigby said: “I would be most confident to say that Rishi Sunak looks set to move on to the last two as he has a lot of backers.
“Many serious politicians in the party think he is the horse to support.
“But who will be the next prime minister, it’s really wide open and it wasn’t like that in 2019 with Boris Johnson. He was nailed pretty much from the start.
“It was similar to Theresa May in 2017, which is what makes this race so fascinating, but I also think it’s what makes this race so cruel.”
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She added: “What was interesting at the Liz Truss today when she was asked about Penny Mordaunt and that she was a block to her.
“She was asked about some negative briefings; Lord Frost came on TV to openly criticize Penny Mordaunt as someone who wasn’t ready for the job.
“Liz Truss said I want to run a clean campaign. Penny Mordaunt said at her launch yesterday ‘I want to run a clean campaign’.
“But I think it’s fair to say you can see the guns lined up on Penny Mordaunt right now and why wouldn’t they?
“She is the biggest threat to both Liz Truss who doesn’t make it to the last two and the Sunak camp because she could jump over him.”
‘It’s getting more and more pleasant. There have been many briefings against Mordaunt’s camp in the last 24 hours. I have to say it will only get worse on the weekend.’
More to follow…