Former chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak has topped the poll in the first ballot of Conservative MPs in the contest to succeed Boris Johnson. Mr Sunak won 88 votes, giving him a clear lead over trade minister Penny Mordaunt on 67 and foreign secretary Liz Truss on 50.
Three other candidates went through to a second ballot on Thursday: former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch on 40 votes, foreign affairs select committee chair Tom Tugendhat on 37, and attorney general Suella Braverman on 32. Chancellor of the exchequer Nadhim Zahawi and former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt were eliminated after they failed to pass the hurdle of 30 votes.
The remaining candidates sought to win the support of MPs who voted for Mr Hunt and Mr Zahawi, with Mr Tugendhat hoping to attract most of Mr Hunt’s votes which came from the liberal wing of the party.
A YouGov poll of Conservative party members on Wednesday put Ms Mordaunt clearly ahead of other candidates, suggesting that she would defeat Mr Sunak by 67 per cent to 28 per cent and Ms Truss by 55 per cent to 37 per cent. Ms Mordaunt launched her campaign on Wednesday promising to focus on policy delivery and to restore a “sense of self” to the party.
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“The British people are fed up. They are fed up with us not delivering, they are fed up with unfulfilled promises, and they are fed up with divisive politics,” she said.
Ms Mordaunt, who campaigned for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, has drawn support from all wings of the party. She said she can win the leadership contest and go on to win a general election for the Conservatives. “We must win that election. I am your best shot at winning that election. I am the candidate that Labour fear the most. And they are right to.”
Ms Mordaunt’s rivals have sought to use her past support for trans rights against her, reminding MPs and party members that she has said that “trans men are men and trans women are women”. She deflected a question about it on Wednesday with a reference to Margaret Thatcher’s deputy Willie Whitelaw.
“I think it was Margaret Thatcher that said that ‘every prime minister needs a Willie’. A woman like me doesn’t have one,” she said.
Mr Hunt, who came second to Mr Johnson in 2019, warned after Wednesday’s ballot against allowing the rest of the contest to descend into smears. “A gentle word of advice to the remaining candidates: smears and attacks may bring short-term tactical gain but always backfire long term. The nation is watching and they’ve had enough of our drama; be the broad church and unbeatable election-winning machine that our country deserves.”
Mr Zahawi, who replaced Mr Sunak as chancellor last week and called on Mr Johnson to resign a day later, said he would not be endorsing any candidate. The candidate who wins the fewest votes in Thursday’s ballot will be eliminated and further rounds of voting are scheduled from next Monday. The first televised debate between the candidates will be held on Channel 4 on Friday.
