London: Former British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak has won the second round of voting to succeed Boris Johnson as the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party. Indian-origin former Chancellor of the Exchequer Sunak, who had won the first round with 88 votes, has now topped the first two ballots of MPs.
Five candidates remain as Attorney General Suella Braverman was knocked out yesterday for failing to reach the 30-vote threshold in the second round.
Mr.Sunak came top with 101 votes, followed by Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt on 83 votes and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on 64 votes. Former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch and senior backbencher Tom Tugendhat also remain in contention.
Tory MPs are aiming to whittle down the field to two by the end of next week when it will be thrown over to a postal ballot of Tory members to choose the winner, who will become prime minister.
Now all five remaining candidates are proceeding to the third round of voting by Tory MPs on Monday. The fifth round of voting will be held on 20th of this month while the deadline for deciding final two candidates is 21st of July. The result will be announced on 5th September this year, when Boris Johnson will leave office.