Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi are out of the leadership contest after failing to get 30 votes from Tory MPs on Wednesday. Six candidates are now left in the race: Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Penny Mordaunt, Tom Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman. Another round of voting takes place tomorrow, with the candidate with the fewest votes knocked out of the contest. Follow the latest updates from the race here:
9.50pm – Hunt backs Sunak
James Forsyth writes… Jeremy Hunt, who was eliminated from the Tory leadership race earlier today, has announced that he is backing Rishi Sunak. Several candidates might have hoped for the former Foreign Secretary’s backing. Mordaunt supported him in 2019, introducing him at his launch, and Tom Tugendhat is on the same one nation wing of the party. Hunt has said that he’s backing Sunak because the ‘big challenge we face now is economic’ and because of ‘character’.
His backing is a boost for Sunak, who topped the poll today.
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