Liz Truss will face Rishi Sunak in ballot to be next PM

Liz Truss will battle Rishi Sunak for the keys to No10 after they claimed the top two spots in a nailbiting vote by MPs today.

The Foreign Secretary edged out Penny Mordaunt following a frantic day of wooing and horse-trading at Westminster.

Ms Truss was six behind in the fourth round of voting yesterday, but seemingly managed to win over the bulk of Kemi Badenoch‘s backers – racking up another 27 endorsements to leapfrog the trade minister with 113 to 105.

Mr Sunak topped the vote again with 137, up 19 on the last stage. 

The pair will now go forward to the head-to-head ballot of Tory members, with the winner set to be announced on September 5 – and take over from Boris Johnson the following day.

Their first major clashes are due to be in a BBC TV debate on Monday night. 

Allies of Ms Truss have pointed out that she kicks off the race from a strong position, with a YouGov survey showing that she would beat Mr Sunak by a comfortable margin of 54:35. 

Ms Mordaunt fought hard to stay in contention – and was given hope with one of her declared supporters, Tobias Ellwood, having the whip restored temporarily so he could vote. 

However, she could not gather enough support to stave off the challenge from her more senior rival. 

In a statement, Ms Mordaunt said paid tribute to the ‘friends and colleagues who backed me’ and her team who ‘worked all hours’ to push her case. 

‘I also want to congratulate both Rishi and Liz in getting through to the next stage. I pay tribute to anyone who puts themselves forward for such a demanding role. Politics isn’t easy. It can be a divisive and difficult place. We must all now work together to unify our party and focus on the job that needs to be done,’ she said.

‘I am a One Nation, proud Brexiteer. My campaign put forward a positive vision for the country I love so much, remembering who we are here to serve. Our mission is not only to deliver on what we promised but to win the fight against Labour at the next general election. I hope to play my part in both.’

Ms Truss’s backers had raised fears Mr Sunak’s team could try to ‘fix’ the final vote to shut her out.

In other twists and turns in the Westminster hothouse today:

• The Cabinet Secretary has launched an investigation into allegations that civil service material has been leaked to damage Ms Mordaunt; 
• Ms Mordaunt tweeted and then deleted a link to an article warning votes for her rivals would ‘murder’ the Conservative Party; 
• There are claims that around 2,000 Tory members have written to the party chair asking for Boris Johnson to be included on the leadership ballot; 
• Taking his last PMQs in the Commons as parliament prepares to go into summer recess, Mr Johnson joked that he is ‘not following’ the Tory leadership battle ‘particularly closely’ but all the candidates would ‘wipe the floor’ with Labour;
• The PM swiped at the Treasury saying it did not want to build the M25 or Channel Tunnel, and signed off by saying ‘mission largely accomplished… for now’; 
• Mr Sunak has unveiled plans for energy reforms to make the UK self-sufficient but insisted he will not relax tough rules on onshore wind farm;
• Keir Starmer accused Mr Johnson of being a ‘complete bullsh*****’ who ‘took the p***’ out of the public with his Partygate explanations. 

On another breathless day of intrigue, Mr Sunak propelled himself over the line with a promise to make the UK self-sufficient in energy production by 2045.

But the former chancellor said he would scrap a plan to relax the ban on new onshore wind farms in England, instead focusing on offshore turbines.

The proposal has been unpopular with MPs in the Tory shires, although polls suggest the public are broadly in favour. 

Under Mr Sunak’s blueprint plan a new ‘energy sovereignty’ target for 2045 would be written in to law.

An energy security committee would co-ordinate action to keep power stations online, protect gas reserves and reform markets to cut consumers’ bills.

A dedicated energy ministry would be formed by breaking up the current Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Mr Sunak said: ‘As energy bills skyrocket in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it has never been more important that our country achieves energy sovereignty, so that we’re no longer reliant on the volatility of the global energy supply.

‘That’s why as Prime Minister I would introduce an ambitious new plan to make the UK energy independent, investing in vital new technologies. ‘

A Truss campaign source said she Truss was ‘in the driving seat’ to reach the run-off although ‘there’s a lot of work still to do’.

Yesterday’s vote left outsider Kemi Badenoch as a potential kingmaker after she was knocked out. Rival candidates were battling to secure the crucial backing of her 59 supporters.

Mrs Badenoch is on the Tory Right and the Foreign Secretary’s team believe at least 22 of her supporters are sympathetic to Ms Truss’s cause.

In an early sign of success, defence minister Leo Docherty switched from Mrs Badenoch to Ms Truss last night, saying: ‘I’ve seen at first hand her deep experience and sound judgement and know she has a credible plan.’

Ms Mordaunt was busy making calls to supporters of Tom Tugendhat and Kemi Badenoch, who had been eliminated from the leadership race, in a last-ditch attempt to gain the support needed to secure a place in the run-off.

A campaign source said this morning: ‘As the only one not in Johnson’s cabinet, Penny is the sole MP left in the race who offers a genuine fresh start. Not every candidate would win an election, but time and time again the polls show that Penny is the candidate Labour fear the most.

‘MPs have a choice today – the same old or a new start for the Conservative Party.

‘Their colleagues, party members, and voters across the country are crying out for something new but only Penny Mordaunt can deliver that.’

Treasury minister Simon Clarke said he wanted MPs to back Ms Truss for ‘positive’ reasons.

‘I think she has the most exciting plan for economic growth and she set out a compelling plan to lower the burden of taxation.’

‘I have very high regard for Rishi Sunak,’ he insisted. ‘I am here to make the case for what I think is the right future step in terms of where we go from here and that is for a Government led by Liz Truss.’

A Truss campaign spokesman said: ‘Now is the time for the party to unite behind a candidate who will govern in a Conservative way and who has shown she can deliver time and again.

‘Liz has a bold new economic agenda that will immediately tackle the cost of living crisis, boost economic growth and continue leading the global fight for freedom in Ukraine.’

One former minister who is not cheerleading for any particular candidate told MailOnline that they thought whomever gets into the run-off would defeat Mr Sunak.

‘I don’t think the membership will vote for him. He is very competent and able, but not popular with our activists. The other candidate would have to implode,’ they said. 

The Cabinet Secretary has launched a investigation into allegations of leaking of information within the civil service, apparently intended to damage Ms Mordaunt’s campaign.

In a letter to Tory MP and Mordaunt-backer David Davis, Simon Case wrote: ‘Thank you for your letter of 17 July, raising your concerns about the apparent leaking of information designed to influence the Conservative leadership election.

‘I have been very clear in writing with the civil service that it is paramount that public resources are not used to support leadership campaigns during the Conservative Party leadership election.

‘Further to that, unauthorised disclosure of government information to the media is clearly inappropriate. In light of these facts and the concerns you raise, I can confirm that I have launched a leak investigation into this matter.

‘The investigation will be completed as quickly as possible given the importance of the subject.’

There were fears the contest could be undermined by ‘vote lending’ between the rival teams, with suspicions focused on Mr Sunak’s campaign aide Gavin Williamson. Mr Sunak’s team deny underhand tactics – and insist that Sir Gavin has no formal role. 

Another Conservative MP said: ‘There is a concerted effort I think to try to make sure that Rishi doesn’t face Liz in the final.’

However, former Cabinet minister David Davis accused Mr Sunak of helping Ms Truss in order to squeeze out Ms Mordaunt.

‘There’s clearly been some transfer of votes, presumably from Rishi to Liz,’ he told LBC Radio. ‘Rishi just reallocated some. He’s got his four or five chief whips that he has in a boiler room to reallocate them. He wants to fight Liz because she’s the person who will lose the debate with him.’

A Sunak-supporting MP denied wrongdoing, saying: ‘We are encouraging every colleague who wants Rishi to win to vote for him.’

The Maharajah of the Dales v Insta-Liz: Tory leadership contest pits super-rich former chancellor Rishi Sunak against Thatcher-channelling Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in the battle for No10

The Westminster bickering and backstabbing is over in the race to become the next leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister.

After five rounds of voting by Tory MPs, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss will battle it out in a head-to-head to replace Boris Johnson in September.

They will spend the rest of the summer wooing Conservative Party members, who will decide which of them will gain the keys to No10 and the power and pain they bring.

It pits Mr Johnson’s former chancellor, 42, whose resignation was a major trigger in his downfall, against the incumbent Foreign Secretary, 46, who has spent months, if not years, tacitly campaigning to become the UK’s third female PM.

The two have widely differing personal backgrounds and pitches to the limited Tory selectorate who will choose the leader of a nation of 70 million people.

Here MailOnline analyses who they are and what their strengths and weaknesses are.