It is not for me to make that decision – it is for you.”
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He said: “It will come as no surprise that some have suggested I could leave with a job as well. The PA News agency understands that at the behind-closed-doors hustings organised by the backbench 1922 Committee, he told MPs that it had been suggested to him that he should step aside and back another candidate. The Tory leadership candidates and presenter Julie Etchingham on stage in the ITV televised debate He had addressed his likely fate head-on earlier, dismissing any suggestion that he would drop out.
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The exit of Tugendhat from the contest was not unexpected, with the Tonbridge and Malling MP trailing behind rivals in the bid for Tory MP backers. The leadership contenders – Sunak, Truss, Mordaunt and Badenoch – have already taken part in debates on Channel 4 and ITV which have seen the would-be prime ministers taking primetime pot shots at each other. He told reporters at a central London bank: “I can see, based on what I’ve seen in the debates so far, why they want to do so because this is a party that is out of ideas, out of purpose, they’re tearing each other apart.” Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he is “astonished” by candidates withdrawing from the debate, arguing that it demonstrates a lack of “confidence”. “Conservative MPs are said to be concerned about the damage the debates are doing to the image of the Conservative Party, exposing disagreements and splits within the party,” a Sky statement said. In a sign of the concern about the way the leadership race is being conducted, Sunak and Truss confirmed they did not want to take part in a Sky News debate planned for Tuesday – prompting the broadcaster to cancel the show.
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The trade minister’s absence from meetings forced colleagues to pick up the pieces, International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan earlier alleged. Most notable on Monday was the accusation that Mordaunt missed ministerial meetings because she was plotting her Tory leadership bid. The ballot came after another fraught day of campaigning in the Tory Party leadership contest, despite concerns being expressed publicly about the growing divisions within the party over the contest. That endorsement, however, appears to have not been enough to push the Foreign Secretary into second place. In the third ballot of the Tory leadership contest this evening, Sunak got 115 votes, Mordaunt 82, Liz Truss 71, Kemi Badenoch 58 and Tom Tugendhat 31.Īttorney General and right-winger Suella Braverman, who was knocked out of the contest last week, had thrown her weight behind Truss. RISHI SUNAK REMAINS the frontrunner after the third round of the Tory leadership contest, with Penny Mordaunt still in second place amid an increasingly bitter contest.