Former finance minister Rishi Sunak won the biggest backing from Conservative lawmakers on Wednesday in the first vote to choose who will succeed Boris Johnson as party leader and British prime minister, while two more rivals were eliminated.
Conservative MPs voted on Wendesday.
Those remaining - which also includes former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, Attorney General Suella Braverman, Tom Tugendhat, chair of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee - will go through to a second round on Thursday.Subsequent ballots will be held among the Conservative lawmakers, eliminating the candidate with the fewest votes each time, to whittle the field down to a final two by 21 July.
As the contest intensifies it has also become increasingly fractious as rival camps trade barbs and some offer a series of eye-catching tax cutting pledges. "I believe his behaviour towards Boris Johnson, his disloyalty means that I could not possibly support him," minister for Brexit opportunities Jacob Rees-Mogg told Sky News on Wednesday.
Political opponents say the candidates have been focused only on winning the support of the right-wing of the ruling party by talking about tax cuts and extra defence spending while not addressing the cost of living crisis facing the public.
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