Ex-finance minister Rishi Sunak tops first vote to be next UK PM

LONDON, 15 July 2022, (TON): Former finance minister Rishi Sunak won the biggest backing from Conservative lawmakers in the first vote to choose who will succeed Boris Johnson as party leader and British prime minister, while two more rivals were eliminated.

Sunak, whose resignation as finance minister last week helped precipitate Johnson's fall, secured support from 88 of the party's 358 Members of Parliament, with junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt second with 67 votes and foreign minister Liz Truss third with 50.

Nadhim Zahawi, who took over as finance minister from Sunak last week, and former foreign minister Jeremy Hunt were knocked out after failing to get the required minimum of 30 votes.

They join three other contenders who dropped out the day before.

Those remaining which also includes former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, Attorney General Suella Braverman, Tom Tugendhat, chair of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee will go through to a second round.

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