Conservative leadership

Foreign secretary draws slightly closer to top two, but fails to pick up as much support as Kemi Badenoch.

“Nobody has been attacked more savagely in the press.” Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Chloe Smith MP, a member of the One Nation caucus campaigning for Ms Truss, pleaded for fellow moderates in the party to look again the foreign secretary for the leadership. Ms Mordaunt, who shares a military background with Mr Tugendhat, added: “I know that we are both committed to a clean start for our party and I believe he is one of the strongest assets on the Conservative green benches.” Mr Tugendhat, the only candidate never to have held ministerial office, said he was “overwhelmed” by the scale of his support, which he said showed the country was “ready for a clean start” which would “put trust back into politics”. With a sizeable chunk of Mr Tugendhat’s backers expected to switch to the international trade minister in the next round of voting on Tuesday, Ms Truss’s hopes will depend on wooing supporters of “anti-woke” insurgent Kemi Badenoch.

Pressure still on foreign secretary in leadership race as she gains just seven new backers in latest round.

Some of the ousted MP’s supporters said they would meet after the vote for a commiseration drink and discuss with each other who to back instead. “That’s going to undermine his position, because as a former chancellor, for him to go on level pegging, that’s damning.” The MP said he had been offered jobs in future administrations if he dropped out of the race, but he wanted to see party democracy run its course. Sunak gained 14 supporters from the last ballot, to put him on a total of 115, trailed by Penny Mordaunt, who lost one, giving her a total of 82. “This is about day one competence, she is showing she has always had the best depth and breadth of experience,” he added. “The threat we face is existential.”

Liz Truss, foreign secretary, on Tuesday narrowed the gap with trade minister Penny Mordaunt as they battled to join former chancellor Rishi Sunak in the ...

Rishi Sunak topped Monday's ballot with 115 votes, ahead of Penny Mordaunt on 82, Liz Truss on 71, and Kemi Badenoch on 58.

Penny Mordaunt MP said: “My vote is steady and I’m grateful to my colleagues for all their support and thrilled to be in second place once more. “MPs are recognising that Rishi has the best experience and plans to deal with the current economic situation. It was an honour to stand alongside him in this contest” “Tom Tugendhat ran a campaign that he can be very proud of and he has shown the depth of quality in the Conservative Party. “We’ve seen that in the response to the two debates, we’ve seen that in the engagement we’ve had from people. In a video posted to Twitter, Mr Tugendhat said: “That is the end of the road for me in this race, but it has been an amazing run, I’m incredibly proud of the team, I’m incredibly grateful to all the supporters who have been with me at some – if not all – stages of the race we fought for a clean start because we know that that’s what the country is crying out for.

The battle to become the U.K. Conservative Party's next leader — and the country's next prime minister — heated up over the weekend.

Sky News was due to hold another televised debate between the contenders but announced on Monday that it had been canceled after Sunak and Truss pulled out. Sunak (one of the bookies' favorites to win the leadership) defended his record, saying the Covid pandemic had been a massive economic challenge and debts needed to be repaid. It led to a wave of resignations with ministers and officials saying Johnson no longer commanded their confidence. On matters ranging from taxes to trans rights, those looking to replace Boris Johnson clashed at various points during the leadership debate. In a somewhat bizarre spectacle. The battle to become Britain's next prime minister heated up over the weekend, as the five candidates vying to become Conservative Party leader looked more like enemies than colleagues in a televised debate on Sunday.

Tom Tugendhat's elimination leaves No 2 in race the only hopeful who is vaguely liberal and not tinged by Johnson's government.

The next two days are likely to be filled with intrigue, scurrilous briefing, complaints of unfairness and a host of contradictory predictions. But the identity of the person he will face remains deeply uncertain, with just two more rounds of MPs’ votes to go, on Tuesday and Wednesday. She is only 13 votes behind Truss, but Tory amateur game theorists will realise that switching your vote from Tugendhat to Badenoch would be quite a leap, both in terms of policy and style.

Conservative MPs are said to be concerned about the damage the debates are doing to the image of the party, exposing disagreements and splits.

"Penny has done broadcast and allowed time for journalists to ask questions at her launch. That is not going to drive economic growth. If not through debates then in other formats," the source added. "Kemi welcomes public scrutiny - it builds trust. Conservative MPs are said to be concerned about the damage the debates are doing to the image of the party, exposing disagreements and splits. Conservative MPs are said to be concerned about the damage the debates are doing to the image of the party, exposing disagreements and splits.