MORDAUNT’S No10 BID HITS BUFFERS

Her vote goes down in latest leadership poll as Sunak’s lead soars – and Tory Right STILL split

PENNY Mordaunt’s bid to become Tory leader dramatically stalled last night after she lost support among fellow MPs.

In a close-fought third round of voting, Rishi Sunak extended his lead to become clear favourite in the race to replace Boris Johnson.

Miss Mordaunt remained in second place on 82 votes, but lost one of her backers. Foreign Secretary liz truss, in third, closed the gap after gaining seven supporters to secure 71 votes.

Little-known ex- equalities minister Kemi Badenoch was fourth on 58, up nine on the previous round of voting last Thursday. Just 24 votes separate the three women, any of whom could win the battle to be one of the two shortlisted candidates who are put forward

to Tory members to choose the next prime minister.

Tom Tugendhat was eliminated from the race last night after coming fifth in the ballot on just 31 votes.

His departure means that the Conservative Party will either elect the UK’s first ethnic minority – or the third female – prime minister.

The results followed two fiery televised leadership debates and intense scrutiny of the candidates’ records over the weekend.

Yesterday’s ballot illustrates that the Tory Right remains badly split between Miss Truss and Miss Badenoch.

It also suggests that Miss Mordaunt’s momentum in the campaign has slowed following a series of revelations about her ‘woke’ position on

‘Ready for a clean start’

transgender debate, and her work ethic and judgment.

Mr Sunak may find himself in such a commanding lead that his team is in a position to ‘lend’ votes to other candidates he would prefer to face in the final run-off.

In other developments:

■ Sky News cancelled a third televised leadership debate planned for tonight after Mr Sunak and Miss Truss vetoed it amid fears that Tory infighting could damage the party;

■ Miss Mordaunt’s Cabinet boss, Trade Secretary AnneMarie Trevelyan, accused her of shirking her ministerial duties to plot her leadership campaign;

■ Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries claimed Miss Mordaunt dismissed concerns about erasing the words ‘mother’ and ‘woman’ from a new law on maternity leave;

■ It emerged that Miss Mordaunt defended a controversial war crimes probe against British soldiers – while her department approved payments to shamed lawyer Phil Shiner;

■ Mr Johnson delivered a barnstorming defence of his record in office in what could be his final Commons appearance as Prime Minister;

■ In the Commons, some Conservative MPs warned it was a ‘mistake’ to have removed Mr Johnson, with one suggesting the party could end up asking itself: ‘What have we done?’;

■ Former Tory leader William Hague came out in support of Mr Sunak;

■ Former levelling up secretary Michael Gove, who is backing Mrs Badenoch, praised Mr Sunak, saying: ‘Rishi is a great guy. He is an outstanding talent.’

Support for Miss Truss surged in yesterday’s ballot after fellow Right- winger Suella Braverman, who was knocked out last week, threw her weight behind her.

Truss supporter Iain Duncan Smith, a former Tory leader, told Sky News: ‘Liz Truss has gone forward and Penny has stalled and has gone backwards. Kemi has gone forward as well.’

He said Miss Truss was in ‘prime position’ to make the run-off, adding: ‘In this round, those that go forward will be the ones that benefit in the next round.’

Another MP supporting Miss Truss said the Foreign Secretary was ‘heading in the right direction’.

Mr Sunak gained 14 supportpating ers as the number of MPs backing him rose to 115 ahead of another two rounds of votes. Anything over 120 guarantees a place in the final two.

He said last night: ‘I want to thank all the colleagues who supported me tonight. Together we can rebuild our economy, keep Brexit safe and defeat Labour.’

Mr Sunak’s team had feared he would not add much to his tally yesterday, instead anticithe that he could benefit from Mr Tugendhat’s expected elimination as his supporters are most aligned with the former chancellor.

Miss Mordaunt said after the result: ‘My vote is steady and I’m grateful to my colleagues for all their support and thrilled to be in second place once more.’

Mrs Badenoch said: ‘Thank you to all my colleagues for their support. It’s all to play for. Continued momentum, closing the gap, I am the only change candidate left in the race. I’m in it to win.’

Following his elimination, Mr Tugendhat said: ‘I want to thank my team, colleagues and, most of all, the British people for their support. I have been overwhelmed by the response we have received across the country.

‘People are ready for a clean start and our party must deliver on it and put trust back into politics.’

Tory MPs will vote again today to whittle down the candidates to just three. A fifth and final round of voting by MPs will be held tomorrow. This will decide the final two who will go in to a run- off decided by Conservative members by September 5.

‘Rebuild our economy’

One thing was clear from last night’s third ballot in the Tory leadership election. Barring some cataclysmic event, Rishi Sunak will be one of the two names on the final shortlist.

As to who will join him there, nothing is settled. As Rishi’s momentum increased, Penny Mordaunt’s went into reverse, as she polled fewer votes this time than last.

however, despite grave doubts over her competence and radical views on gender identity, she remains in second place.

Liz Truss narrowed the gap, but will have hoped to do better. She didn’t, because the traditionalist Tory vote is dangerously split between her and Kemi Badenoch.

Both women benefited evenly from the redistribution of Attorney General Suella Braverman’s support, who lost out in the last ballot. If those centre-Right votes had all gone to Miss Truss, she would now be neck and neck with Miss Mordaunt with the wind in her sails.

Instead, it’s possible Miss Mordaunt might yet cling on, leaving the membership with two social and economic liberals and no true blue Tory to choose from.

Traditionalist MPs must wise up and coalesce behind one candidate. Miss Truss is the obvious choice, given her strong track record and she is best placed to overtake Miss Mordaunt.

If the members are denied the option of electing a true low- tax, small- state Conservative, they will smell a cynical Westminster fix. And they’ll be right.