Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss reach final two of Tory leadership race – as it happened

  • 7/20/2022
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Sunak and Truss in final ballot of Tory members to choose next PM Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, is reading out the results. Rishi Sunak - 137 Liz Truss - 113 Penny Mordaunt - 105 A summary of today"s developments Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are in the final ballot of Tory members to choose the next the next prime minister. Sunak got 137 votes, Truss got 113 with Penny Mordaunt eliminated after getting 105. Labour said Sunak and Truss are both “continuity candidates” and Boris Johnson stooges in a statement on behalf of the party by Conor McGinn, a shadow Cabinet Office minister. Boris Johnson declared “Mission largely accomplished, for now,” as he signed off his last Prime Minister’s Questions. His final words before departing were “hasta la vista baby” from the Terminator films. He left the House of Commons chamber to applause and a standing ovation from his own MPs, although his predecessor Theresa May did not join in with the clapping. A third cabinet minister pulled out of an appearance before a House of Commons committee at short notice. Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng had been due to answer questions this afternoon from the environmental audit committee on accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels and securing energy supplies.But Kwarteng wrote to the committee’s chairman, Philip Dunne, this morning to say he could no longer attend and offered to rearrange for a date in September after MPs return from their summer recess. Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, has agreed to launch a leak inquiry into the leak of government documents to the Sunday Times that were used to as the basis for a story undermining Penny Mordaunt’s claim that she never backed self-identification for trans people when she was equalities minister. The revelations were damaging to Mordaunt’s campaign for the Tory leadership. Ed Miliband, the shadow climate change secretary, described Rishi Sunak’s promise to maintain the ban on new onshore windfarms as “economic illiteracy”. Tobias Ellwood has again had the Tory whip removed after Conservative MPs cast their final ballots in the leadership contest. A whips’ office spokeswoman said: “Tobias Ellwood MP has had the Conservative whip suspended.” On Tuesday, Ellwood had the whip removed after he failed to take part in the confidence vote in the government. The Labour MP Ian Murray, the shadow Scottish secretary, said that while Boris Johnson was leaving, whoever the next Tory leader was had been “complicit in defending his shameful and corrupt behaviour”. “The people of this country will not forget that Tory MPs lined up time and time again to excuse the behaviour of a man caught lying and partying while the country was in lockdown, and defending sexual predators. “They clapped him out,” he said. Douglas Ross has meanwhile pledged to work with whoever wins the keys to No 10, with the Scottish Conservative leader having described both candidates as “fully up to the task of being our next prime minister”. The Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss has told Channel 4 News she is “entirely focused on a positive campaign” and plans to cut taxes if she beats Rishi Sunak to become the next prime minister. She added: “I can hit the ground running, I can get things done.” Political analyst Patrick Flynn believes tactical voting took place in the latest round of Conservative voting among MPs. Rishi Sunak v Liz Truss: all you need to know about the final two prime minister contenders. Plans have been announced to overhaul Border Force, as an independent review found it was performing at a “suboptimal level” and stretching its resources in an “unsustainable and highly inefficient way”. The independent review, commissioned by the home secretary, Priti Patel, to see how well it may respond to future challenges, said that, despite a “dedicated, capable workforce”, the agency seemed to be “less than the sum of its parts with significant systemic challenges”. The review, by the former Australian immigration minister Alexander Downer, said: “Overall, my impression of Border Force is an organisation which is performing at a suboptimal level. “It appears to be struggling to get out of a cycle of crisis management, reacting to the last challenge and bracing itself for the next, regardless of how predictable the next challenge may be. “Although Border Force is largely delivering what is required of it on a day-to-day basis, it does so by stretching its resources in an unsustainable and highly inefficient way.” The first of the 12 official public hustings organised by the Conservative party in the leadership contest has been set for July 28 in Leeds, before Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak tour the UK for questioning. A hustings for the Conservative Councillors’ Association, organised separately and believed to be taking place behind closed doors, is expected to take place on Thursday. Conservative members are expected to receive postal ballots by 5 August, with the ballot shutting at 5pm on 2 September ahead of the final announcement. The candidates will also attend hustings in Exeter, Eastbourne, Northern Ireland, Manchester and London during their tour.

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