Rishi Sunak Tops Final Round of Voting, To Clash With Truss in Run-Off for UK PM

Sunak got 137 MP votes compared to 113 and 105 secured by Truss and Penny Mordaunt, respectively.

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.

(Photo: Namita Chauhan/The Quint)

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Wednesday, 29 July, qualified for the run-off contest for the leadership of the Conservative Party in the UK.

The winner will go on to become the next prime minister of the United Kingdom, succeeding Boris Johnson.

Sir Graham Brady, who is the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers of the Conservative Party, announced the result at 16:00.

Rishi Sunak - 137

Liz Truss - 113

Penny Mordaunt - 105

While Kemi Badenoch was eliminated on Tuesday, Sunak was expected to come first in this round as well, given that he topped all the previous rounds of voting that have taken place so far.

The contest to look out for, indeed, was between, Mordaunt and Truss, as only six votes had separated them last time. This time, that number was only eight.

The UK is set to elect a new PM by 5 September, after Boris Johnson resigned from his post following a series of scandals. You can read all about it here. Click here to understand how voting within the Conservative Party works in order to elect a new leader.

In his final PMQs as prime minister, Boris Johnson said on Wednesday, that his "mission is largely accomplished... for now."