Tory leadership race: Today’s events – MPs head to the ballots in 3rd round to cast their votes
Today will see MPs head to the ballots to cast their votes in the third round of the Tory leadership race to find a successor to Boris Johnson, as the remaining five will become four this evening.
The candidates spent their weekend battling it out in two tv debates. Sunday’s ITV-hosted debate proved to be bitter and ill-tempered.
In the ballots so far, Rishi Sunak has taken the top spot, followed by Penny Mordaunt in second and Liz Truss in third.
Truss will be hoping to pick up votes from Suella Braverman who publicly backed Truss after she was eliminated in the last round.
Truss, who voted Remain in the 2016 referendum, is backed by many Brexiteers while Suella Braverman is a longstanding supporter of Brexit.
Truss will be hoping that a significant slice of the 17 MPs who voted for Suella Braverman in the last ballot will now be giving their support to her. If they do, she is in with a chance of beating out Penny Mordaunt for that second place seat.
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What happens next in the Tory leadership race?
It’s been a busy few weeks since MPs started mass resigning and the prime minister announced he would be resigning.
At the moment there are five candidates: Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Penny Mordaunt, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat.
In the last ballot, Tom Tugendhat lost votes. It is likely he will be knocked out in today’s vote.
MPs will vote again in the House of Commons this afternoon between 5 pm and 7 pm with results expected to be announced at around 8 pm.
The four candidates who survive today’s vote will then face it all again on Tuesday. The fourth round of voting will take place at around 3 pm.
Tuesday’s TV debate between candidates has been cancelled by Sky News after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss pulled out.
There will be a final round on Wednesday, in which the final two candidates will be revealed.
On Thursday, Parliament enters recess.
During this time, Conservative Party members have time to select their winner, with the results to be announced by 5 September.