Tom Tugendhat Knocked Out of UK Conservative Leadership Contest

Tom Tugendhat speaking at the launch of his campaign to be Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister, at 4 Millbank, London, on July 12, 2022. (Yui Mok/PA Media)

Conservative leadership candidate Foreign Affairs Committee chair Tom Tugendhat was eliminated from the race on Monday on the third ballot.

The former soldier and “clean start” candidate—the only candidate who has never held a government role, secured 31 votes from his colleagues.

Rishi Sunak managed to stay on top of the league with 115 votes in the bag, 14 more votes than the last ballot. But the former Treasury boss will face substantial competition as more candidates get eliminated, with the uncertainty of where floating votes will go.

Trade policy minister Penny Mordaunt remained in second place with 82 votes. Instead of picking up supporters from those who backed eliminated candidate Suella Braverman, Mordaunt lost one vote compared to the last ballot.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss closed in with 71 votes after picking up seven more supporters, while former levelling up and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch gained nine additional supports, trailing with 58 votes.

In a video message posted on Twitter, Tugendhat said his leadership bit had been “an amazing run.”

Tugendhat said he’s “incredibly proud of the team” and “incredibly grateful to all the supporters,” but he didn’t immediately back another candidate, saying he will “listen to what they have to say” and make his judgment later.

Photos of remaining Conservative leadership candidates: (From top left, clockwise) Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Kemi Badenoch, and Liz Truss. (PA Media)

Conservative MPs will vote on Tuesday and Wednesday to eliminate two more candidates, leaving two final contestants to compete for the votes of 160,000 Conservative Party members.

The race to replace Boris Johnson as the UK’s prime minister has been and still is unpredictable compared to the last race that saw Johnson become the Conservative Party’s leader.

In 2019, Johnson led with 143 votes on the third ballot, almost triple the number of votes for Jeremy Hunt, at 54.

According to the result of the latest survey by ConservativeHome, published on Sunday, Badenoch was the most popular candidate among grassroots party members, followed by Truss, Sunak, Mordaunt, and Tugendhat.

Among the remaining candidates, Sunak is the only one opposing immediate tax cuts while Badenoch is the only one who declined to commit to the UK’s 2050 net-zero climate target.

During a televised debate on Sunday, Truss criticized Sunak for raising taxes “to the highest level in 70 years,” saying his policy “will choke off economic growth.”

Sunak defended his record, blaming the tax rising on the “once-in-a-century” COVID-19 pandemic. He also labeled the other candidates’ tax-cut policies as “something-for-nothing economics.”

But candidates were united in some areas, including not giving in to unions’ demands on public sector salaries, not having Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the new Cabinet, and not calling a general election after the leadership race.