Trade minister Penny Mordaunt has been eliminated from the Conservative leadership contest, as Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss proceeded to the run-off.
The wider Conservative party members will now choose between the former chancellor and the incumbent foreign secretary to decide who will succeed Boris Johnson as the next prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Sunak topped the polling once more with 137 votes, with Liz Truss securing 113 votes in a late storm to see off the challenge of Penny Mordaunt, who took 105.
Paying tribute to her backers, Truss tweeted: “Thank you for putting your trust in me. I’m ready to hit the ground from day one.”
The final round of MPs’ votes comes as a disappointing outcome for Mordaunt, who polled in second in all the prior voting rounds before Truss eventually overturned her advantage.
Thanking her campaign team and supporters following the result, Mordaunt appealed for unity on social media, tweeting: “Thanks to everyone for all your hard work. We go forward together.”
The hustings for Tory members will be held from Friday (July 22) across the country, as Sunak and Truss pitch their case for the premiership to the party’s grassroots, with both holding differing views on fiscal policy.
Giving the opposition viewpoint on the latest result in a BBC interview, Labour shadow Scotland secretary, Ian Murray, suggested that both who made the run-off were “continuity candidates” and “stooges from Johnson’s cabinet”, that will only bring “more of the same” rather than change for the country.
The winner will be announced on September 5.
