With Rishi Sunak all but guaranteed a place on the final ballot paper, Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt are vying for the remaining spot.
20 July 2022
Tory MPs have cast their final votes in a bitter leadership contest that has seen Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt battle it out to face Rishi Sunak in a run-off to be the next prime minister.
All that is left of the Westminster stage of the race to replace Boris Johnson is for Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers, to read out the results before the final two face their next electorate: the Tory membership.
Mr Sunak, the former chancellor, appears certain to achieve the votes required from colleagues in the Commons to guarantee his name will be on the ballot that goes to party members over the summer.
But Foreign Secretary Ms Truss and trade minister Ms Mordaunt are scrambling to secure votes in the contest for the second spot on the ballot on another significant day in Westminster, as Mr Johnson rounded off his final Prime Minister’s Questions by hailing the successes of his time in office.
