Tom Tugendhat has been eliminated from the Tory leadership contest with James Cleverly moving into the lead.
The shadow security minister secured the support of just 20 fellow MPs while former home secretary Mr Cleverly received 39 votes after what had been seen as a strong performance at last week’s party conference.
Former front-runner Robert Jenrick fell to second place with 31 votes, one ahead of Kemi Badenoch.
MPs will hold a further ballot on Wednesday to decide the final two candidates to take over from Rishi Sunak, who will then go forward to a vote by Conservative Party members.
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The winner of that vote will be announced on November 2.
The leadership races follows the one in Scotland, where Russell Findlay came out on top to replace Douglas Ross.
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