Rishi Sunak extends lead in UK prime ministerial race

With the fourth round of voting set to take place today, former chancellor Rishi Sunak extended his lead in the race to replace Boris Johnson as the Conservative Party leader and British prime minister, as he added 14 more votes to his tally in the latest round of voting by Tory members of Parliament. Sunak, 42, has consistently topped the shortlist since voting began last week and on Monday he bagged 115 votes in the third round, which leaves only four candidates in the race.

Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt is holding on to second place with 82 votes followed by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss with 71 votes and former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch at 58 votes.

The crux of Sunak’s message was around honesty. Sunak, who is standing firm on his economic plan of prudency over immediate tax cuts, went head-to-head with Truss over her promise to slash taxes from day one if she is elected as the new incumbent at 10 Downing Street. Mordaunt also wants to cut some taxes, with Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat slightly more measured in laying out their plans over the dominant issue of the race.

“You have to be honest. Borrowing your way out of inflation isn’t a plan, it is a fairytale,” Sunak told Truss, as the Channel 4 debate on Friday night got heated and he rubbished her proposals and warned against an “unfunded spree” of tax cuts.

All five candidates admitted Johnson had been less than honest over the Downing Street parties when asked about partygate, with Tugendhat the only candidate to reply a categorical No when asked if he trusted the outgoing prime minister.