MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sunak almost certain of showdown berth against Mordaunt or Truss

Truss is banking on luring enough Badenoch voters to back her Wednesday

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak won Tuesday's round of voting within the Conservative Party ranks to appoint a new leader who would also become British Prime Minister.

Sunak has almost secured a berth in the final round where he will be challenged by either Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt or Foreign Secretary Liz Truss after Kemi Badenoch was eliminated despite obtaining 59 votes, one more than previously.

Sunak retained his lead and rose to 118 votes from his previous 115; Mordaunt got 92 votes, ten more than she did Monday, and Truss collected 86 votes, fifteen more than in the previous round, which left the race for the second place still undecided.

The three advancing candidates will clash again Wednesday, after which the two survivors will face scrutiny from all Tory party members nationwide.

The new Prime Minister is expected to be sworn in Sept. 5. In the meantime, the resigning Boris Johnson has agreed to stay on the job on a caretaker basis until a replacement is chosen. Johnson has been urging Tory candidates not to back Sunak, whose resignation sparked the end of the current administration amid numerous scandals.

Born in Southampton to a general practitioner father and a pharmacist mother, Sunak first became an MP in 2015 from the Richmond, Yorkshire, constituency. He was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer by Johnson in 2020, which earned him some popularity for his economic package to aid businesses and employees amid COVID-19 lockdowns. If he wins the race, Sunak would be the first person of Indian or even Asian origin to hold the post.

After Kemi Badenoch was knocked out Tuesday, Mordaunt and Truss are entangled in a struggle for second place to make it to the final round. However, according to The Guardian, all three would lose in a general election against a Labour opponent.

After Tom Tugendhat was cast aside Monday, 15 of his 31 votes seem to have gone to Truss and 10 to Mordaunt. But Truss is now banking on receiving enough of Badenoch’s 59 votes to outpace her rival. According to Steve Baker, a strong supporter of Badenoch, most MPs linked “to Kemi,” will most likely ”not be attracted to Penny,” he said.

Sunak, who fell two votes shy of crossing the 120-vote-threshold, insisted he was the only candidate who could save the United Kingdom and ruled out a Scottish independence referendum if he became Prime Minister.