Penny Mordaunt has been knocked out of the Conservative leadership battle, leaving Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss as the ‘final two’ who have made it onto the ballot and will now go head-to-head.
The next Prime Minister will now be decided by the votes of the roughly 160,000 Conservative Party members – 0.3% of the electorate.
The result in numbers
In this final round of MP voting, Rishi Sunak once again topped the tables with 137 votes, whilst Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt were neck-and-neck. Truss inched ahead with 113 votes, leaving Mordaunt to be eliminated having earned only 105 votes.
This is a big win for Truss – in Tuesday’s vote, Sunak was leading, but in second was Mordaunt, suggesting that Truss’s campaign has successfully won over MPs previously supporting Kemi Badenoch, who was knocked out in the previous vote.
Now, though, the final choice comes down to those 160,000 Conservative Party members. According to the BBC, a poll from 2020 reveals that 63% of Tory members are male, and 39% – the largest age demographic – are over 65. 56% of members live in London and the south-east of England. and 80% are part of the highest social economic group (referred to as ABC1).
Reactions
Penny Mordaunt – who has boasted that she is ‘who Labour fears most’, has thanked her supporters for ‘all [their] hard work]’, and appears to be promoting Conservative unity in the face of what many have predicted to be a bitter fight.
In a statement she said: ‘Politics isn’t easy. It can be a divisive and difficult place. We must all now work together to unify our party and focus on the job that needs to be done.
‘I am a One Nation, proud Brexiteer. My campaign put forward a positive vision for the country I love so much, remembering who we are here to serve.
‘Our mission is not only to deliver on what we promised but to win the fight against Labour at the next general election. I hope to play my part in both.’
Liz Truss has thanked her supporters for their ‘trust’ in her ‘Liz For Leader’ campaign, as some of Mordaunt’s supporters appear to be moving to her side.
MP Michael Fabricant, previously a staunch supporter of Mordaunt, took to Twitter: ‘I now back Liz Truss. She stayed loyal to the end and didn’t plot and scheme against Boris.’
Rishi Sunak’s team, in a celebratory announcement, have suggested that Sunak is a candidate capable of defeating Labour at a General Election. In a statement, a spokesperson said: ‘This is a really strong result with a clear mandate from MPs. He will now work night and day to get the mandate from the wider Conservative Party family to beat Labour, protect the Union and seize the opportunities of Brexit.
‘The choice for members is very simple: Who is the best person to beat Labour at the next election? The evidence shows that’s Rishi.’
What now?
From this Friday, hustings for Truss and Sunak will be held around the country as the candidates spend time vying for the votes of those 160,000 Conservative Party members – as well as promoting their policies and public image to an electorate wary of another premature General Election.
On Monday 25th July, both candidates – who recently withdrew from a scheduled debate – have agreed to take part in a live head-to-head debate on the BBC, set to be hosted by journalist Sophie Raworth.
Finally, after a postal ballot, the winner – and new Prime Minister – will be announced on Monday 5 September.