Rishi Sunak has taken a first lead in the Conservative leadership competition as Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi were eliminated from the race to replace Boris Johnson.
The remaining six candidates will face a new vote on Thursday, and more are expected to take charge next Monday.
According to the contest rules, established by the 1922 Committee of Deputies, deputies needed 20 supporters to be officially included in the election and more than 30 to advance to the second round.
Zahawi, who was appointed chancellor last week when Johnson tried to bolster his dying government, got 25 votes, while Hunt, the former Secretary of Health and Foreign Affairs who lost in the final phase of the 2019 leadership election, obtained 18.
Sunak, the former chancellor, remained the favorite with 88 votes, while Commerce Minister Penny Mordaunt increased her chances by taking second place with 67.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss got 50 votes, and Kemi Badenoch, who resigned as minister last week, got 40.
Two candidates have just crossed the line: Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs committee, with 37 sponsors, and Suella Braverman, the attorney general who was the first person to declare her intention to run last week, with 32.
The announcement will start a new fight between Conservative candidates who are still in the race for the supporters of those who were knocked out. The public sponsors of Hunt and Zahawi were 14 years old.
From top left: Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Tom Tugendhat, Liz Truss, Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman, the remaining candidates. Compost: PR
The result suggests Hunt received support Tuesday night, as he needed 20 sponsors to get to the first ballot, but at least two of them abandoned him when he reached Wednesday’s vote.
He criticized the “defamations and attacks” he said could have brought rivals “short-term tactical gain, but always long-term counterproductive,” adding, “The nation is watching and they’ve had enough of our drama “.
Zahawi, shaken by a series of allegations about his financial affairs, was christened by his peers as “a scandal waiting to happen.”
Zahawi then said, “Clearly my part in the contest is now over,” and that “with a full focus, I will focus on my key role as chancellor and administrator of the nation’s finances.”
Neither immediately endorsed another candidate, with a rival campaign source telling the Guardian, “Don’t assume your column of supporters will go perfectly to another camp. It’s not lonely.”
However, a Tugendhat supporter said there would be negotiations with Hunt over a possible endorsement and that they hoped to win at least half of its sponsors and those of Zahawi. They stressed that he would not leave the competition because the main goal was to get to the television debates – from Friday on Channel 4 – to be able to “make a David Cameron” and prove that he was the best candidate to connect with the public. .
Another MP said Hunt had told them explicitly that their initial instinct was to support Tugendhat.
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In Thursday’s vote there will be no minimum threshold that candidates must maintain in the race, but what is left behind will be eliminated.
Truss urged his comrades to “unite behind it,” stressing that it would move forward with tax cuts, offer “real economic change” and support Ukraine in its war with Russia, said a spokesperson for her.