Who is backing who? Tory MPs offer support as six leadership hopefuls remain

PA Wire

The Tory leadership contest is in full swing and will decide who becomes the next prime minister, replacing Boris Johnson.

Under the system used to elect the Conservative Party’s leader, MPs vote for their preferred candidates over successive rounds of votes with the person with the least support eliminated each time.

When only two are left, the finalists are presented to the entire membership for a final ballot, after which a winner will emerge.

As such, who MPs are backing in the race is extremely important.

Here's the latest who who is supporting which declared candidate along with the latest bookmakers’ odds on victory, as of the published time of this article.

Rishi Sunak – 88 votes in first round, 55 backers, odds 7/2

Former chancellor Rishi Sunak so far has the most MP nominations of any of the Tory leadership candidates (Jonathan Brady/PA)

MPs to have declared their support include: Mark Harper, Jacob Young, Angela Richardson, John Glen, Laura Trott, Mark Spencer, Paul Maynard, Robert Jenrick, Claire Coutinho, Liam Fox, Oliver Dowden, Mel Stride, Sir Bob Neill, Andrew Murrison, Bim Afolami, Louie French, Simon Jupp, Simon Hoare, Kevin Hollinrake, Fay Jones, Peter Gibson, Helen Whately, Maria Caulfield, Craig Williams, James Cartlidge, Robert Goodwill, Simon Hart, Gareth Davies, Siobhan Baillie, Anthony Browne, Greg Hands, Ruth Edwards, Gary Streeter, Alex Chalk, Laura Farris, Victoria Prentis, Dominic Raab, Lucy Frazer, Gillian Keegan, Grant Shapps, Matt Hancock, James Wild, Rebecca Pow, Steve Barclay, Helen Whately, Alun Cairns, Stephen Crabb, Chris Skidmore, Mark Menzies, Andrew Jones, Simon Baynes, Sir Gavin Williamson, Michael Ellis, Theresa Villiers, Nigel Huddleston

Penny Mordaunt – 67 votes in first round, 34 backers, odds 4/5

Penny Mordaunt has surged into second place (Jacob King/PA)

MPs to have declared their support include: ohn Lamont, Nicola Richards, Michael Fabricant, Kieran Mullen, Alicia Kearns, Craig Tracey, Robbie Moore, Harriet Baldwin, Caroline Ansell, George Freeman, Derek Thomas, Elliot Colburn, Damian Collins, Maria Miller, Andrea Leadsom, Theo Clark, James Sunderland, Duncan Baker, James Gray, Caroline Dinenage, Sarah Atherton, Kate Griffiths, Bob Seely, David Davis, Alberto Costa, John Baron, John Penrose, James Davies, Jerome Mayhew, Sir Mike Penning, Mims Davies, Jill Mortimer, Trudy Harrison, Luke Evans.

Liz Truss - 50 votes in first round, 24 backers, odds 9/2

Liz Truss will make her campaign pitch on Thursday (AFP/Getty)

Alec Sherbrooke, Dehenna Davison, Wendy Morton, Vicky Ford, Jackie Doyle-Price, Julian Knight, Rob Butler, Chloe Smith, Dean Russell, Marcus Fysh, Darren Henry, Ranil Jayawardena, Simon Clarke, Therese Coffey, Kwasi Kwarteng, James Cleverly, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Nadine Dorries, Mark Pritchard

Kemi Badenoch – 40 votes in first round, 23 backers, odds 18/1

Kemi Badenoch fared better than big names like Nadhim Zahawi (UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor/PA)

Lee Rowley, Lee Anderson, Eddie Hughes, Julia Lopez, Tom Hunt, Ben Bradley, Justin Tomlinson, Gareth Bacon, Caroline Johnson, Andrew Lewer, Neil O’Brien, Michael Gove, Leo Docherty, Alex Burghart

Tom Tugendhat – 37 votes in first round, 22 backers, odds 45/1

Tom Tugendhat is hoping to pick up more support as the field narrows (PA)

Damian Green, Aaron Bell, Jake Berry, Paul Holmes, Karen Bradley, John Stevenson, Robert Largan, Stephen Hammond, Robert Syms, Anne-Marrie Trevelyan, Mark Logan, Anne Marie Morris, Chris Green, Nickie Aiken, Damian Moore, Mark Pawsey, James Daly, Jo Gideon, Neil Hudson, Ben Spencer

Suella Braverman – 32 votes in first round, 13 backers, odds 79/1

Suella Braverman just made it through to the next round (Aaron Chown/PA)

Desmond Swayne, Jason McCartney, Robin Millar, Henry Smith, Steve Baker, Julian Lewis, John Hayes, Richard Drax, Philip Hollobone, Danny Kruger, David Jones, Miriam Cates