Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat are battling it out to take over from Boris Johnson after securing a significant amount of support in the first two rounds of voting. The candidates now face off in a series of live televised debates, including one on Sky News on Tuesday, before the number of candidates is reduced again. Politics Hub: ‘Is Boris an honest man?’ – candidates react to questions The final two candidates will emerge by the end of next week and then face a summer of storms, with Conservative Party members having the chance to decide who will be the next prime minister on September 5. But who is expected to come out on top? Second round result Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt maintained their positions at the top of the leaderboard in first and second place respectively after the second vote. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss came third, with 64 votes, to Ms Mordaunt’s 83 and Mr Sunak’s 101. Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat are also still in line, coming in fourth and fifth respectively. Attorney General Suella Braverman was knocked out and has since thrown her support behind Ms Truss. The odds of the bets Some Tory MPs have claimed she is not up to the job, but it is dark horse and relatively unknown Penny Mordaunt who the bookies believe will come out on top. The betting odds predict he has more than a 50% chance of winning the election, compared to 34.7% for Mr Sunak and 19% for Ms Truss. Despite being one of the favorites among right-wing Tory MPs, Kemi Badenoch’s chances of becoming the next prime minister were just 4% as of Saturday. And although he believes he will win the race, bookies believe outsider Tom Tugendhat has just a 2.6% chance of succeeding Mr Johnson. Read more: Why expect a surprise in the Tory leadership contest Where do the candidates stand on tax, Brexit and the cost of living? Who do the party members want? While former chancellor Mr Sunak has the most support among Tory MPs, ultimately it is the Conservative Party members who will choose their next leader, and therefore prime minister. An early YouGov poll of that group on Wednesday found Ms Mordaunt the new favorite to be leader, with previous preferred choice Ben Wallace having declined to run. The Trade Secretary appeared on Sky News today and claimed fellow candidates are trying to stop her from making it to the final round because she is the one they are most afraid of competing against. The YouGov poll of who members want as Prime Minister found Mrs Mordaunt convincingly at the top of the list, with 27%. Ms Badenoch came in second with 15%, followed by Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss with 13% each and Tom Tugendhat with 8%.
