Important Day at Westminster
July 20, 2022 at 12:24 pm 2 comments
- Boris Johnson will face Keir Starmer in his last PMQs as prime minister at 12:00 – before Tory MPs decide which two candidates will compete to replace him.
- Leadership candidates Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss face a final vote by Conservative MPs at 13:00 -15:00. The result is expected at 16:00
- Kemi Badenoch was knocked out of the contest on Tuesday afternoon and the 59 MPs that back her must now choose which of the final three to support
- Former chancellor Sunak was top in Tuesday’s ballot with 118 votes, while Mordaunt came second and Truss third.
- Rishi Sunak is widely expected to advance to the members’ ballot, but questions remain about whether will be joined by Liz Truss or Penny Mordaunt.
- The two winning candidates today will face a ballot of 160,000 Tory Party members, with the result due to be announced on 5 September
- Columnist Allison Pearson fears in The Telegraph that the final two would be Sunak vs Truss. “Vote for billionaire Rishi Sunak or painfully wooden Liz Truss, and you‘ll kill the party you love,” she writes and urges the MPs to vote for Penny Mordaunt, the third remaining candidate:
- “Tory MPs might think, for perfectly honourable reasons, that either of the two other, more experienced candidates would be a ‘safe’ bet. Quite the opposite is true, it seems to me,” says Allison Pearson. “In fact, my fear is that if either Rishi or Liz becomes Prime Minister then obliteration for our party at the general election in 2024 is practically guaranteed.”
- On the other hand, Penny Mordaunt is criticised for not being ready for office “on day one”. Lord Frost’s cutting critique of Penny Mordaunt suggests that she would not be the right person for the job of Prime Minister, but others claim that only she could win the next election for the Tories, and unite the UK in these difficult times.
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EXTRA TIME 
1.
RapidHammer | July 20, 2022 at 4:59 pm
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
Last Updated: 17:02 Wednesday, 20 July 2022
2.
RapidHammer | July 20, 2022 at 10:15 pm
From The Telegraph:
Liz Truss is the front-runner to be the next prime minister, after Tory MPs voted her into the final two of the leadership contest alongside Rishi Sunak.
The Foreign Secretary picked up more new votes than any rival on Wednesday, as she leapfrogged Penny Mordaunt, the trade minister, who was knocked out of the contest.
Mr Sunak, the former chancellor, has now softened his critique of Ms Truss, writing in The Telegraph that he respects his opponent and that tax cuts ultimately are needed for growth.
On Wednesday, bookmakers had Ms Truss as the favourite after a string of recent polls found Conservative Party members – who will decide the contest – favoured her over Mr Sunak.
Mr Sunak topped the final ballot of Tory MPs with 137 votes, up 19. Ms Truss came second on 113, up 27, while Ms Mordaunt got 105, up just 13.