Rishi Sunak on a roll, tops another round of Conservative Party voting

Rishi Sunak tightened his grip on the race to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and British prime minister as he bagged 101 votes to again emerge as the winner of the latest voting round on Thursday.

Indian origin Suella Braverman fell out of the race with 27 MPs voting for her. There are now five candidates left in the Tory leadership contest. All eyes will now be on which way Suella Braverman and her 27 backers will swing.

The next few rounds of voting among Conservative Party members of Parliament will whittle this list down to just two.

The race is now narrowing down into a three-way fight between Sunak, Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss with the others expected to throw their weight behind one of these three campaigns in the hope of securing a good Cabinet post under a new leader.

Johnson’s successor will be known by September 5.

(WITH PTI INPUT)