In the latest round of voting by 358 Tory MPs on Monday, Sunak maintained his position as front-runner with the support of 115 MPs, an increase of 14 from the last round of voting. He was just five short of the 120 needed to secure a place in the final second round. Mr Sunak’s allies are confident he is to be one of two shortlisted candidates for Tory MPs, who will decide the UK’s next prime minister. The final result will be announced on September 5. Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, was ruled out of the contest after receiving the support of 31 Conservative MPs, the lowest number. Mordaunt, the surprise rebel of the contest, remained in second place with the approval of 82 MPs, down from one in the last round. But many Tory MPs believe Mordaunt is losing momentum in the contest after poor performances in two televised debates in the past four days. He is expected to struggle to win over Tugendhat’s supporters.

Her position as Sunak’s most likely challenger is under threat from Truss, who is seen as upping her game in Sunday’s debate. She received the support of 71 MPs, an increase of seven on the second round, although it was not as much progress as her supporters had hoped. The Truss campaign praised Tugendhat, saying he “can be very proud”, adding “now is the time to support the best candidate to deliver the economic change we need”. Kemi Badenoch, former equalities minister, came fourth with the support of 58 MPs, up nine on the last round. He believes he can still overtake Truss and Mordaunt to secure second place. A junior minister who has never served in cabinet, Badenoch has captured the imagination of many in the Tory base. A poll by the website ConservativeHome said he would beat all other candidates in the final run-off. Two more rounds of qualifiers are expected to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. The final two candidates will then be voted on by around 150,000 Tory party members. The remaining candidates in the race are likely to be eager to win Tugendhat’s support, which may encourage his supporters to follow suit. He is ideologically more closely aligned with Sunak, but a Tugendhat ally said he was not immediately seeking to back another candidate. “Tom isn’t just going to roll after someone else. He will support the right candidate who is most relevant to his campaign commitments.” In a statement after the vote, Tugendhat said he was overwhelmed by the response his campaign had received across the country. “The people are ready for a clean start and our party must achieve this and restore trust in politics,” he said. A televised leadership candidates’ debate due to take place on Tuesday was canceled after concerns among Tory MPs that the confrontations were damaging the party’s standing with so-called “blue on blue attacks”. A Sunak spokesman said: “Every poll shows that only Rishi can beat Starmer and he is the candidate the public think would make the best Prime Minister. “MPs also recognize that Rishi has the best experience and plans to deal with the current financial situation. Rishi will rebuild our economy by containing inflation and making our economy grow rapidly again.”