Conservative leadership race: Eight prime ministerial contenders advance to next stage as shortlist | Politics news

The candidates who have advanced to the next stage of the race to replace Boris Johnson as Tory leader and Prime Minister have been announced.

Eight deputies who passed the first round:

• Rishi Sunak
• Penny Mordaunt
• Tom Tugendhat
• Liz Truss
• Suella Braverman
• Jeremy Hunt
• Kemi Badenach
• Nadhim Zahavi

Political Center: Johnson supporters to back ‘Stop Rishi’ candidate.

Shortly before the list was announced, Sajid Javid and Rehman Chishti said they were withdrawing from it after not receiving enough support from MPs.

The leadership campaign officially kicked off at 12pm on Tuesday when nominations opened for the six-hour term, which closed at 6pm.

Several prominent MPs such as Mr Sunak, Mr Tugendhat and Mr Truss have already thrown their hats in the ring and have more than the 20 supporters needed to advance to the first round before nominations open.

There were also some lesser-known names, such as Equalities Minister Kemi Badenach and Rehman Chisti, the latter of whom no one publicly supported.

A vote by other Conservative MPs to reject first-round candidates will take place on Wednesday, when candidates will need 30 supporters to go through to the second round.

Those candidates will go through consecutive rounds of voting starting Thursday — and likely through the end of next week — until only two remain.

Around 160,000 Conservative Party members will then vote for one of the final two, with the result announced on September 5 when Boris Johnson hands over the keys to Number 10.

Three Tory MPs have launched an election campaign on Tuesday morning – Rishi Sunak, Tom Tugendhat and Kemi Badenoch – while Home Secretary Priti Patel ruled herself out.

Tax cuts featured prominently in most of their plans for the day, with Mr Tugendhat pledging to cut fuel duty by 10p and Mr Sunak pledging to “reduce the tax burden” – once inflation has eased.

Still, Ms. Badenoch refused to engage in a “trade war” over tax cuts against the other candidates.

Mr Sunak said he would not “demonise” Mr Johnson in his campaign, but admitted the pair often disagreed as he insisted he had the support of “all wings of the party”.

Mr. Johnson said he would not publicly endorse either candidate because he did not want to hurt their chances.

Labor was left in a frenzy after the government refused to accept a vote of no confidence both in the government and the prime minister from tomorrow’s debate in the House of Commons. She was directed to oust Mr Johnson from Number 10 immediately.

The government said it was not a “valuable use of parliamentary time” as Mr Johnson had already resigned and the leadership race was ongoing.

Sky News is hosting a live televised debate with the contenders to be the next leader of the Conservative Party, and therefore Prime Minister, and you can be in the virtual audience.

The debate will be hosted by Sky News presenter Kay Burley on Monday 18 July.

If you would like to be part of the virtual audience and have the opportunity to ask a question, please send an email NewsDebates@sky.uk.