MEMBERS OF the Conservative Party have voted for six candidates to continue on to the second round of the leadership election.
Former chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak is currently in the lead, having received 88 votes in yesterday's first round of voting. That figure represents 25% of the total votes available.
Penny Mordaunt came in second position with 67 votes in round one, while Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was sin third with 50 votes.
Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat and Suella Braverman finished the first round in the bottom half with 40, 37 and 32 votes respectively.
Both Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi and Jeremy Hunt were eliminated yesterday after they both failed to reach the 30 vote threshold.
Hunt has now publicly supported Mr Sunak.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is to set out her pitch to be the next Conservative leader and prime minister.
She will say the UK should be an "aspiration nation" where every person has the "best opportunity to succeed".
Ms Truss will also promise to reverse the National Insurance rise and reduce taxes on business.
Tory MPs will begin their second round of voting at 11.30am this morning and have until 1.30pm to cast their ballot.
The result will then be announced by the chair of the backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, at 3pm.
Whoever has the lowest number of supporters will be eliminated from the race, and the party will keep holding votes in the coming days until they are down to the final two.
The pair will then face a summer of hustings and a final vote by the wider Tory party membership before the winner is confirmed on 5 September.
