Sunak retains lead in race for UK leadership as contenders' list narrows to four

The former British chancellor Rishi Sunak has emerged as the frontrunner after the third voting round for the Tory leadership, with backbencher Tom Tugendhat being knocked out of the cut-throat race.

In the third round of the vote on Monday to elect the successor of Boris Johnson, in which 357 MPs out of 358 voted, Indian-origin Tory politician Sunak retained the top spot and increased his vote share to 115 from 101 in round two, as Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt took second place.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss trailed behind in the third position once again, while former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch stood last with 4 more votes than in the previous round.

The four candidates remaining in the race are set to face two more rounds of voting on Tuesday and Wednesday, which will see only two of the contenders remaining on the voting list.

About 160,000 of the Conservative Party members will then have the final say, with the winner expected to be announced on 5 September.

Sunak, with the most number of votes, is tipped to be one of the last two candidates in the fray, but at the Tory party level vote, he lags behind.

The remaining contenders will not face each other in a debate that had been planned by Sky News for Tuesday after Sunak and Truss refused to take part.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he was “astonished that those that want to be prime minister of the United Kingdom are pulling out of debates and out of scrutiny.”

The Tory leadership contest has become increasingly bitter and personal in tone after Sunak, Mordaunt, and Truss clashed in an ITV-hosted debate on Sunday over their economic policies.

UK leadership race: Sunak leads first round to replace Johnson

Britain’s former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has won the first round of voting to succeed Boris Johnson as the next Conservative leader and prime minister.

After announcing Monday’s voting results, Tugendhat wrote about the necessity of trust and being honest with people.

“One thing is clear - if we cannot rebuild trust, our party is doomed. Not just for now, but for a generation or more,” he wrote on Twitter. “To win an election we need the country behind us. Our values, our conservative values, can only be achieved in government."

Ruling conservatives survive no-confidence vote

Meanwhile, the conservative government survived a no-confidence vote on Monday with members of the governing Conservative Party voting by 349 votes to 238 in support of ministers to avoid triggering a national election.

The no-confidence vote was triggered at the request of the opposition Labour Party and the deposed premier Johnson, who would stay in the post until a successor is elected.

Since Johnson’s resignation earlier this month, his scandal-ridden administration has lost the support of many in his party and the opposition.

The candidates running for conservative leadership are contesting at a time when Britain's economy is beset with spiraling inflation, high debt, and low growth that have left people with the tightest squeeze on their finances in decades.

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