Suella Braverman has been knocked out of the Tory leadership race in the second round of voting, with Rishi Sunak topping the ballot with more than 100 votes.
Penny Mordaunt came in second, with 83 votes to Liz Truss’s 64 – while Tom Tugendhat will be questioning whether to stick with his earlier pledge to fight on after receiving just 32.
Lord Frost earlier launched a brutal attack on Ms Mordaunt after polling placed her as the favourite among the Tory faithful to succeed Boris Johnson, with the former Brexit minister claiming he had asked for her to be removed as his deputy during talks with the EU.
Alleging that the former defence secretary “did not master the detail that was necessary” during negotiations and “wouldn’t always deliver tough messages to the EU” when the situation merited it, the Conservative peer said he was now “gravely concerned”.
Liz Truss had sought to snatch support from her leadership rivals on the Tory right as she laid out her pitch, pledging to cut taxes and “level up in a Conservative way” – as her allies urged supporters of right-wing candidates Kemi Badenoch and Ms Braverman to “join Liz” instead.
