Last Updated: July 13, 2022, 10:22 PM IST
Sunak scored 88 votes of Tory MPs, ahead of Penny Mordaunt on 67 and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss with 50.
(Image: Reuters)
Rishi Sunak scored 88 votes from Tory MPs, ahead of Penny Mordaunt on 67 and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss with 50, the Conservative Party announced
Rishi Sunak, former British finance minister, won the first round of voting to replace Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party and PM. Sunak scored 88 votes of Tory MPs, ahead of junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt on 67 and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss with 50, the Conservative Party announced.
With this, there are six candidates remaining in the running to succeed Johnson. Two candidates – finance minister Nadhim Zahawi and former foreign minister Jeremy Hunt – were knocked out.
Sunak, whose resignation last week led to Johnson’s downfall, got the backing of 88 out of the Conservative Party’s 350 lawmakers.
Zahawi, who assumed charge as the finance minister after Sunak’s resignation, and former foreign minister Hunt were eliminated as they couldn’t secure the minimum benchmark of 30 votes. Three other candidates were knocked out the day before.
The six remaining contenders, including former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, Attorney General Suella Braverman, Tom Tugendhat, chair of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, will go through to the second round of votes on Thursday.
(With agency inputs)
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