TOM Tugendhat has been knocked out of the Tory leadership contest, winning the support of just 31 of his colleagues. 

In what was the third round of voting, the favourite Rishi Sunak was, by some distance, the winner of the round, taking 115 votes, adding 14 since the last round, but still five short of the number needed to automatically make it through to the final stage of the process.

While Penny Mordaunt came second with 82 votes, she was down one vote on the last round. 

Liz Truss came third, adding seven votes to her tally, taking her to 71 while Kemi Badenoch added nine giving her a new total of 58.

The Herald:

With Mr Sunak's lead now unassailable, the race is now for second place.

Unless any of the candidates withdraw, there are still two rounds of voting to go, with the next ballot tomorrow. 

The remaining four hopefuls will spend tonight and tomorrow morning scurrying about in a bid to secure some of Mr Tugendhat's votes. 

In a video posted to Twitter the defeated backbencher, said he would listen to what other candidates have to say before deciding who to support.

He said: “That is the end of the road for me in this race, but look, it has been an amazing run, I’m incredibly proud of the team, I’m incredibly grateful to all the supporters who have been with me at some – if not all – stages of the race we fought for a clean start because we know that that’s what the country is crying out for.

“We’ve seen that in the response to the two debates, we’ve seen that in the engagement we’ve had from people.

“Now I’m going to be with you, of course, over the next two years, fighting in the council elections and then fighting again in the general election and then long into the future, because we need to make sure that our party, the Conservative Party, is able to deliver a clean start for the country and for ourselves.

“But please, I’m not going to be talking about any candidates at the moment, I’ll listen to what they have to say and I’ll be making my judgment later.”

 

 

Former Tory leader Sir Ian Duncan Smith, who is backing Ms Truss, denied that it had been a bad result for the Foreign Secretary.

He told Sky News that the contest was about "momentum" and that Ms Mordaunt had "stalled". 

"What happens is in this round those that go forward will be the ones who benefit in the next round. And Liz is definitely in that, she's in prime position to do that. Because there's still a lot of votes sitting there likely to come to Liz at some point once this is settled."

He said supporters of Ms Badenoch should now join the campaign to get Ms Truss through to the final round. 

It has been another day of angry exchanges between the candidates and their campaign teams. 

In a startling moment, International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan claimed that Ms Mordaunt  - who is in her department - had missed ministerial meetings because she was plotting her Tory leadership bid.

The trade minister’s absence from meetings forced colleagues to "back fill" she said.

Asked about Ms Mordaunt’s grasp of details, Ms Trevelyan said: “We all do our jobs in different ways.

“Understandably, perhaps, now it’s clear, Penny has for the last few months spent some of her time focused on preparing her leadership campaign, for which I have utmost respect, that’s how this system works.”

Ms Trevelyan added: “There have been a number of times when she hasn’t been available, which would have been useful, and other ministers have picked up the pieces.”

But former minister Harriet Baldwin, an ally of Ms Mordaunt, said: “Having worked with Penny Mordaunt for a number of years, I can confirm this is not true.

“She is one of the most hard-working ministers and constituency MPs I know. I look forward to Penny continuing to put forward her positive vision for Britain.”

In another development, Sky News was forced to cancel Tuesday night’s debate between the Tory leadership hopefuls after two of the candidates pulled out. 

In a statement, the broadcaster said: “Tuesday evening’s live television debate on Sky News between the Conservative Party leadership candidates has been cancelled.

“Two of the three candidates currently leading in the MPs ballots, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, have confirmed to Sky News that they do not want to take part.

“Conservative MPs are said to be concerned about the damage the debates are doing to the image of the Conservative Party, exposing disagreements and splits within the party.

“Both are very welcome to take part in future Sky News televised debates.”

The decision to not take part comes after two previous TV debates which have been bruising for the party and the candidates. 

It is understood both campaign teams would rather focus on hustings for Tory MPs in the run-up to the final vote on Wednesday.

"We've done two in the last three days which I think is enough at this stage," a source in Mr Sunak’s team told The Mirror.

A Team Truss source told the paper: "It is not the right time to be doing more debates when this part of the contest only has 358 voters. The C4 debate in particular was a massive mistake and candidates were wrong to take part in it."

Ms Mordaunt's spokesperson said she was disappointed by the cancellation. 

They said: "It’s a shame some colleagues cannot find a way to debate one another in a civil way.

“Throughout this contest she has never dodged media or shied away from broadcast interviews and debates - people deserve to hear from their leaders.”

Sunday night’s clash on ITV was particularly brutal, with the attacks between MPs veering on the personal. 

One of the most striking moments in the ITV debate was when Mr Sunak asked Ms Truss if she most regretted being a Remainer or a Lib Dem in her past. 

The Foreign Secretary responded by noting that her comprehensive school wasn’t as posh as the £30,000 a year Winchester College Mr Sunak attended.