Sunak tops Tory MPs' latest vote as race narrows to the last 3

LONDON • British former finance minister Rishi Sunak held on to his lead yesterday among Conservative lawmakers in the race to replace Mr Boris Johnson as prime minister, but his two remaining rivals were closing the gap, leaving the race wide open.

In a vote among Conservative Party Members of Parliament, Ms Kemi Badenoch, a former equalities minister, was knocked out, leaving Mr Sunak, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Ms Penny Mordaunt, a junior trade minister, as the remaining candidates.

Mr Sunak garnered 118 votes, followed by Ms Mordaunt on 92 and Ms Truss on 86, with long-shot candidate Badenoch trailing on 59 and therefore eliminated from the contest.

The vote means that Britain will get either its first British Asian prime minister or the third female leader in the country's history.

Lawmakers will eliminate one more before the governing party's 200,000 members choose their new leader, who will automatically become prime minister.

Unlike in 2019, when Mr Johnson was a clear favourite going into the contest, the result is more difficult to forecast, with polls of party members suggesting Mr Sunak would lose to whoever is chosen to face him.

Since Mr Johnson said he would resign earlier this month after his scandal-ridden administration lost the support of many Conservatives, the race to replace him has become increasingly ugly, with the contenders trading barbs and challenging records.

Ms Mordaunt just held onto second place and thanked colleagues for their support.

"We are so nearly across the finish line. I am raring to go and excited to put my case to members across the country and win," she said in a statement.

Mr Sunak, Ms Truss and Ms Mordaunt have presented policy offerings to try to add momentum to their campaigns, trying to move the focus away from pledges on tax cuts at a time when Britain's flagging economy has left people with the tightest squeeze on their finances for decades.

Mr Sunak, whose resignation as finance minister helped trigger Mr Johnson's downfall, said he would implement harsher sentences for criminals who fail to attend court and would crack down on gangs that groom girls and young women for sex.

"It will be my top priority in government to keep the British public safe - and I will do whatever it takes to make that happen," he said in a statement.

All three remaining contenders will be keen to buttress their right-wing credentials to appeal to a party membership which, according to 2020 research by Queen Mary University of London and Sussex University Party Members Project, tends to be older, male, southern English and supporters of Brexit.

They will vote in a postal ballot, with the result due Sept 5.

A YouGov poll of Conservative members showed Mr Sunak would lose a run-off vote against all the others.

Ms Truss, who has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine after Russia's invasion, repeated her commitment to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of gross domestic product by 2030.

"My No. 1 priority is keeping this country safe and people can trust me to do that," she said.

"We live in an increasingly dangerous world where the threat level is higher than a decade ago, and we need a stronger deterrent to face down those threats and ensure Britain leads on the global stage," she said.

Ms Mordaunt also committed to Mr Johnson's so-called levelling up agenda, or tackling regional inequalities in Britain.

"My economic plan will boost competition and growth up and down the country, creating the jobs of the future and enabling the country to live well," she said in a statement.

Mr Johnson yesterday chaired the final meeting of his Cabinet. The previous night, lawmakers in the House of Commons, the Lower House of Parliament, backed the government in a confidence vote, dodging a snap general election.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, XINHUA