James Cleverly has surged into first place in the Conservative leadership contest while Tom Tugendhat has been eliminated in the third round of voting by MPs.
Mr Tugendhat, the shadow security minister, secured the support of just 20 of his 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, who will then go forward to a vote by Conservative Party members.
The winner of that vote will be announced on November 2.
