Kemi Badenoch was knocked out of the race to become Britain's next prime minister on Tuesday, prompting a 24-hour scramble among the three remaining candidates to win over her supporters before the final round of balloting by Tory MPs.
The fourth round of voting saw former chancellor Rishi Sunak top the poll with 118 votes, all but guaranteeing that he will be one of the final two options presented to Conservative Party members.
The other spot in the run-off is still up for grabs between trade minister Penny Mordaunt, who won 92 votes, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who closed the gap by taking 86.
Ms Badenoch, a former equalities minister on the right of the party, was eliminated after coming last with 59 votes but her allies can expect a day of heavy lobbying from the Truss and Mordaunt campaigns as they wrestle for second place.
The right flank of the party that favoured Ms Badenoch would seem a more natural fit for Ms Truss, but movements between rounds have been hard to predict and Wednesday’s vote remains wide open.
The rivals for second place immediately weighed in with glowing tributes to Ms Badenoch. Ms Mordaunt said she had “electrified the leadership contest with her fresh thinking and bold policies … she and I both know that the old way of government isn’t working as it should.”
A spokesperson for the Truss campaign said Ms Badenoch had "run a fantastic campaign and contributed enormously to the battle of ideas throughout this contest".
The fourth round was held after backbench MP Tom Tugendhat, a former soldier seen as a moderate in the race, was eliminated from the contest on Monday.
Although his supporters had been expected to lean towards Mr Sunak or Ms Mordaunt, it was Ms Truss who made the biggest progress — boosting her hopes of jumping into second in Wednesday's ballot.
A prominent Truss backer, backbench MP Dehenna Davison, said: “The momentum is firmly on Liz Truss's side.”
Once two candidates are left standing, postal ballots will be sent to the roughly 200,000 Conservative members and hustings held across the country before a winner is announced in September.
Ms Truss had made a play for Mr Tugendhat's votes on Tuesday by echoing his promise to spend 3 per cent of GDP on the military by 2030 in the face of growing hostility from Russia and China.
Cabinet minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan was one of the Tugendhat backers won over by Ms Truss, whom she described as bringing "strength to deal with the tough choices".
Ms Mordaunt has also talked up her military links as a naval reservist and short-lived defence secretary but has not committed to the 3 per cent threshold.
She instead focus on the economy on Tuesday, saying she would take on outgoing leader Boris Johnson's north-south equality agenda by improving apprenticeships, rail links and energy investments.
One of her supporters, former minister Andrea Leadsom, said testy exchanges between Ms Badenoch and Ms Mordaunt in TV debates did not mean that the loose votes could not fall for Ms Mordaunt in the final round.
"Leadership hustings are a brutal time... but the reality is Penny and Kemi have a strong relationship," she told Sky News. "And it's simply not true that all MPs vote as a bloc. Kemi doesn't command the bloc vote."
Mr Sunak meanwhile sought to position himself as a defender of the Union by highlighting billions of pounds he routed to Scotland when he was chancellor.
While candidates battle for Ms Badenoch's votes, another question is whether Mr Sunak's camp could try to influence the battle for second place by lending votes to a preferred opponent.
The Sunak campaign denied having used such tactics in earlier rounds. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was rumoured to have engaged in similar manoeuvres during the last leadership race in 2019.
At Downing Street, Mr Johnson chaired what was expected to be his final cabinet meeting and was presented with first-edition copies of Winston Churchill's books on the Second World War.
Mr Johnson ensured on Monday that he could stay in office until the end of the contest by winning a confidence vote in the House of Commons, defeating a Labour attempt to oust him sooner.
That led to another twist in the leadership race on Tuesday as backbench MP Tobias Ellwood, a Mordaunt supporter, was suspended from the Tory ranks for having failed to show up for the vote.
Mr Ellwood, a longstanding critic of Mr Johnson, blamed air travel chaos after saying he was unable to get home from a visit to Moldova.
MWTC
Tickets start from Dh100 for adults and are now on sale at www.ticketmaster.ae and Virgin Megastores across the UAE. Three-day and travel packages are also available at 20 per cent discount.
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
GOODBYE%20JULIA
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMohamed%20Kordofani%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiran%20Riak%2C%20Eiman%20Yousif%2C%20Nazar%20Goma%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%205%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Overall standings
1. Christopher Froome (GBR/Sky) 68hr 18min 36sec,
2. Fabio Aru (ITA/AST) at 0:18.
3. Romain Bardet (FRA/ALM) 0:23.
4. Rigoberto Uran (COL/CAN) 0:29.
5. Mikel Landa (ESP/SKY) 1:17.
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
Sri Lanka-India Test series schedule
- 1st Test India won by 304 runs at Galle
- 2nd Test India won by innings and 53 runs at Colombo
- 3rd Test August 12-16 at Pallekele
THE%20SWIMMERS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESally%20El-Hosaini%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENathalie%20Issa%2C%20Manal%20Issa%2C%20Ahmed%20Malek%20and%20Ali%20Suliman%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
HER%20FIRST%20PALESTINIAN
%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20Saeed%20Teebi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPages%3A%20256%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPublisher%3A%C2%A0House%20of%20Anansi%20Press%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
BRIEF SCORES
England 353 and 313-8 dec
(B Stokes 112, A Cook 88; M Morkel 3-70, K Rabada 3-85)
(J Bairstow 63, T Westley 59, J Root 50; K Maharaj 3-50)
South Africa 175 and 252
(T Bavuma 52; T Roland-Jones 5-57, J Anderson 3-25)
(D Elgar 136; M Ali 4-45, T Roland-Jones 3-72)
Result: England won by 239 runs
England lead four-match series 2-1
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
