The candidate who came second in the first round of voting in the 1997, 2001 and 2005 Tory leadership races – Lord Hague, Sir Iain Duncan Smith and David Cameron respectively – then went on to win. In the next phase of her campaign on Thursday, Ms Mordaunt will lean on her military upbringing as she outlines her security and defence policy, arguing that she has the clearest plan for keeping Britain safe. But she is set to come under fire from Ms Truss, who will hold a campaign launch event and argue that Ms Mordaunt’s lack of economic experience would be a risk, given the cost of living crisis. On Wednesday, Ms Mordaunt leapfrogged Mr Sunak in the bookies’ odds for who will become the next Tory leader, after a YouGov poll of party members suggested she would get more than double the number of votes than the former chancellor. While Mr Sunak won Wednesday’s round of voting, securing close to one in four of the votes in a field that included eight candidates, his margin of victory suggested that he does not have overwhelming support. Two candidates were knocked out of the race after failing to get 30 votes: Jeremy Hunt, the former foreign secretary, and Nadhim Zahawi, the Chancellor.
