Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, is announcing the results now.
Rishi Sunak – 101 (up 13)
Penny Mordaunt – 83 (up 16)
Liz Truss – 64 (up 14)
Kemi Badenoch – 49 (up 9)
Tom Tugendhat – 32 (down 5)
Suella Braverman – 27 (down 5)
That means Braverman is out.
Key events:
According to the Times’ Henry Zeffman, Tory MPs believe that Andrea Leadsom will be chancellor if Penny Mordaunt becomes prime minister.
Excl: Andrea Leadsom would be Penny Mordaunt’s chancellor if she succeeds Boris Johnson, Conservative MPs believe
Leadsom is running Mordaunt’s surging campaign for Downing Street
More on @thetimes liveblog here 👇https://t.co/QyKgaYWMld
— Henry Zeffman (@hzeffman) July 14, 2022
A Mordaunt campaign source played down the suggestion Leadsom is a dead cert for the Treasury, saying: “Nothing pledged, nothing offered”
— Henry Zeffman (@hzeffman) July 14, 2022
The last time Leadsom came close to being offered the post of chancellor by a campaign was in 2016, when Boris Johnson was meant to offer her the post in return for her endorsement. But a letter containing the pledge was never handed over, Leadsom decided to run herself, and the setback contributed to Michael Gove deciding to withdraw support from Johnson, and Johnson abandoning his campaign.
Suella Braverman, the attorney general who is now out of the Tory leadership contest, has accused Penny Mordaunt, who is now the favourite, of not standing up for women.
Referring to legislation passed to allow her as attorney general to take maternity leave (the Ministerial and Other Maternity Allowances Act), Braverman said Mordaunt was to blame for gender-neutral language in the original draft which referred to a pregnant person, not a pregnant woman. She told Sky News:
Penny is a very good politician, I disagree with Penny on some key issues, in relation to one specific matter, ie the maternity bill that was passed for my benefit when I had my baby last year.
I do have to say that Hansard and the record shows that Penny Mordaunt. as the bill minister, the minister responsible for passing that legislation, did oppose and did resist the inclusion of the word woman and the word mother and did only concede after unsustainable pressure from the House of Lords.
I was quite disappointed by the way in which it was handled and the responsible minister, I’m afraid, didn’t stand up for women and didn’t actually reflect the views of a lot of our party on wanting women to be authentically represented on the face of the bill and in legislation.
Mordaunt has said she changed the language in the bill, which was originally drafted by someone else.
Braverman also told Sky News she would consider her options before deciding who to back in the next ballot. But she said a key factor would be who would do the most to stop illegal migration across the Channel.
In a later interview with the PM programme on Radio 4, Braverman said she did not consider Mordaunt an authentic Brexiter – even though Mordaunt backed leave – because Mordaunt voted for Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
And she criticised Mordaunt’s stance on trans rights. She said:
My perception of Penny is she takes a different view to me when it comes to gender ideology and the position of trans. For example, I think she said a trans woman is a woman. I disagree with that.
And here are takes from three more journalists on what the results of the second ballot mean.
From the FT’s Stephen Bush
It’s a lot of things I think. It’s good: Sunak had the worst first ballot showing of *any* first round winner he did not go backwards, and he did better than Clarke, Portillo or Davis. It’s great: he cleared the psychologically resonant figure of 100. It’s terrible cos he got 13. pic.twitter.com/qNeuvypbJG
— Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) July 14, 2022
For Liz Truss: it’s great because she has extended her lead over Kemi Badenoch, she continues to be ahead of the pack in that rightwing lane. It’s bad because her lead over Kemi Badenoch is still not that large and because of how well Penny Mordaunt’s doing.
— Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) July 14, 2022
Really the only candidates you can say had an unalloyed good result are Kemi Badenoch (whatever happens from now she’s won and established herself as a force in internal Tory politics) and Penny Mordaunt (for, uh, really obvious reasons).
— Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) July 14, 2022
From the Times’ Steven Swinford
* There will be one hell of a battle for Suella Braverman’s 27 backers in coming days – Truss thought most likely to benefit
* Will Tom Tugendhat now fold?
* The gap between Mordaunt and Truss has barely moved
* Sunak well course to make final 2
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) July 14, 2022
Kemi Badenoch gains nine votes, her team will be very pleased with that – still very much in running and a key figure in contest whatever happens
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) July 14, 2022
Rival camps think that Tom Tugendhat’s 32 votes will split between Penny Mordaunt and Rishi Sunak
So big question would be whether Liz Truss can pick up enough votes from Braverman to bridge gap and counter votes Penny Mordaunt picks up from Tugendhat
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) July 14, 2022
Throw into this the ultimate random factor – the TV debates on Friday and Sunday
The outlier candidates have everything to gain
The frontrunners have a lot to lose
Both events have the potential to shake up the contest before Monday’s vote
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) July 14, 2022
The Liz Truss path to No 2 slot is narrow:
1) She picks up sig numbers of 27 Suella Braverman backers
2) Penny Mordaunt *doesn’t* pick up big chunk of Tom Tugendhat’s backers if he falls
3) A big chunk of Kemi Badenoch’s backers go to Truss rather than Sunak if she falls
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) July 14, 2022
From Talk TV’s Tom Newton Dunn
My take on Tory 2nd ballot: Zahawi and Hunt backers split all ways and the big beasts Sunak + Truss are still not able to clean up. Suggests the majority of MPs still want a fresh face. The last 2 is still all to play for + between 4 I think, if Tugendhat falls in with Badenoch.
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) July 14, 2022
All five remaining candidates in the contest – Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat – have agreed to take part in the first TV debate, on Channel 4 tomorrow at 7.30pm. This is from Krishnan Guru-Murthy, who will be moderating.
CONFIRMED. All 5 candidates to be Tory leader have agreed to take part in the first TV debate on Channel 4 at 7.30pm Friday night, lasting 90 minutes and moderated by me. https://t.co/C6xkmEPbnI
— Krishnan Guru-Murthy (@krishgm) July 14, 2022
Kemi Badenoch says the results today show a growing number of Tories support her brand of “honest politics and conservative principles”.
I am delighted that a growing number of my colleagues have faith in my vision for a return to honest politics and conservative principles. Thank you for your support.
Now is the time for change, and I am looking forward to continuing to make that case in the TV debates. pic.twitter.com/R7VlAl4Atv
— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) July 14, 2022
My colleague Aubrey Allgretti posted this yesterday giving the timings for the remaining parliamentary ballots in the Tory leadership contest.
Set your watches ⏰
Here’s the timings for the rest of the Tory leadership contest:
Thursday – second vote, result 3pm
Next Monday – third vote, result 8pm
Next Tuesday – fourth vote, result 3pm
Next Wednesday – fifth and final vote, 4pmThen, we’ll have our final two! pic.twitter.com/kenNzxvOBc
— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) July 13, 2022
According to the Spectator’s Fraser Nelson, bookmakers’ odds suggest Penny Mordaunt is now more than twice as likely to be the next Tory leader as Rishi Sunak.
David Davis, the former Brexit secretary who is backing Penny Mordaunt for next Tory leader, has described the Lord Frost comments about Mordauant (see 9.20am and 11.31am) as part of a “black ops” operation. He told Sky News:
It’s absolutely clockwork – you get to the point that somebody gets ahead and looks to be the real challenger, and then the black op starts, the incoming fire starts.
A supporter of Liz Truss said her campaign had picked up “solid momentum” in what had been a “difficult round” for them, PA Media reports. Simon Clarke, chief secretary to the Treasury, said there was a limited pool of support they could have plausibly won over from the supporters of the candidates eliminated in the first round.
This is very much on the trajectory we thought. We are attracting broad support from people across the party.
Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary and Liz Truss supporter, has urged MPs to unite behind Truss. Her message seems to be aimed particularly at Suella Braverman’s supporters, who now must choose someone else to vote for, and supporters of Kemi Badenoch, another rightwinger. The point about Truss being someone “who actually has the ability to lead the country” seems to be a reference to Penny Mordaunt’s relative inexperience.
Great result for @trussliz
Now is the time for us all to unite behind a candidate who actually has the ability to lead the country as PM.
As Foreign sec, she imposed the very toughest sanctions on Putin. That took serious ability and sheer grit. #LizForLeader
— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) July 14, 2022
