Rishi Sunak and Lizz Truss reach final leg of race for Prime Minister of UK

London: Rishi Sunak has clinched his place for the final leg of the race to succeed Boris Johnson as Prime Minister of UK. Mr Sunak will now go head-to-head with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as one of two finalists to take charge as UK PM and Conservative Party leader. Sunak won the fifth and final voting round of Tory MPs with a resounding 137 votes, while second-placed Truss won the support of 113 MPs.

Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt was knocked out of the race after coming in third with 105 votes. The 42-year-old Sunak, who has topped every voting round so far, added 19 votes to his yesterday tally of 118 and comfortably crossed the 120 MPs mark seen as the threshold to confirm a place in the final showdown. Either Sunak or Liz Truss will be chosen in a ballot of one lakh 80 thousand Conservative members to be the party’s new leader. The winner will be announced on September 5 and will automatically become Britain’s new prime minister.