Rishi Sunak holds firm as Suella Braverman out of UK PM race

Former UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak held on to his frontrunner position in the race to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister with 101 votes in the second round of voting on July 14.

Attorney General Suella Braverman, the fellow Indian-origin candidate in the fray, is out of the race after she got just 27 votes in the latest round.

Five contestants remain in the leadership battle now, including Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt (83 votes), Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (64 votes), former minister Kemi Badenoch (49 votes) and Tory backbencher Tom Tugendhat (32 votes).

The next few rounds of voting among Conservative Party members of Parliament to narrow down the shortlist further to just two remaining candidates by next Thursday is scheduled for early next week.

At this stage, Sunak, Mordaunt and Truss are seen as the likely finalists, with the British Indian former Cabinet minister the one to beat in the Tory membership postal ballot.

The winner will take charge at 10 Downing Street in London by September 5.