Rishi Sunak has extended his lead in the contest for the Conservative Party leadership after a third round of voting among MPs on Monday night. The former chancellor of the exchequer won 115 votes, up 14 since last Thursday. Trade minister Penny Mordaunt remained in second place with 82 votes, down one since the last ballot.
Foreign secretary Liz Truss saw her vote rise by seven to 71 and former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch won 58 votes, up nine since last week. Backbencher Tom Tugendhat was eliminated after coming last with 31 votes.
The leadership contest is a two-stage process with Conservative MPs voting in a series of ballots to select a shortlist of two to go before the entire party membership. With Mr Sunak almost certain to secure a place in the final two, Ms Truss had hoped to profit from the elimination last week of attorney general Suella Braverman, who had won 27 votes.
Ms Badenoch has closed the gap with Ms Truss and could even overtake her in the next ballot on Tuesday following Mr Tugendhat’s elimination. Ms Mordaunt, who started the contest as the surprise favourite among party members, has seen her momentum stall following almost a week of attacks from other candidates.
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Earlier on Monday, the candidates took part in a hustings before the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers during which Mr Tugendhat said it was essential that the party should recover in time for the next general election.
“We must win across England, Scotland, Wales and NI. We are the only true national party in this wonderful country... if we cannot speak to that country then the separatists, the socialists, and the sandal-wearers will tear our great country down,” he said.
Sky News cancelled a debate scheduled for Tuesday evening after Mr Sunak and Ms Truss withdrew following concerns among Conservatives that the bitter clashes in the debates on Friday and Sunday were damaging the party.
Before the result of the latest leadership ballot was announced, Boris Johnson defended his record as prime minister during a debate on a motion of confidence in his government. He said he was proud to have delivered Brexit but warned that the “deep state” – secret, unauthorised networks within the governmental system – were working with Labour leader Keir Starmer to reverse the outcome of the 2016 referendum.
“The leader of the opposition and the deep state will prevail in its plot to haul us back into alignment with the EU as a prelude to our alignment to our eventual return,” he said.
The “deep state” is a term that originally referred to military and intelligence networks within the Turkish state system that operated independently of political control. More recently, it has been used by far-right conspiracy theorists to suggest that secret, elite networks in government, media and the law were working against democratically elected leaders including Donald Trump.
Sir Keir said that, unlike David Cameron and Theresa May, Mr Johnson had not been forced out of office because of policy disagreements.
“Instead, he has been forced out in disgrace, judged by his colleagues and peers to be unworthy of his position and unfit for his office,” he said.
“He lurched from one scandal to the next. He demeaned his office. And he started to drag everyone and everything down with him. So belatedly, they found him unfit for office.”
