With 88 votes, Rishi Sunak tops first round of voting to be next UK Prime Minister

Subsequent voting will be held among Conservative MPs, with the contender with the fewest votes eliminated each time, to narrow the field to a final two by July 21.  The next leader will subsequently be picked from those two by the country's 200,000 Conservative party members and revealed on September 5.

Rishi Sunak, a former British finance minister, won the first round of voting to succeed Boris Johnson as Prime Minister and Conservative Party Leader. Sunak received 88 Tory MP votes, ahead of junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt on 67 and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on 50, according to the Conservative Party.

As a result, there are now six people in the running to succeed Johnson. Two candidates were eliminated: finance minister Nadhim Zahawi and former foreign minister Jeremy Hunt. Sunak, whose resignation last week contributed to Johnson's demise, received the support of 88 of the Conservative Party's 358 members.

Zahawi, who took over as finance minister when Sunak resigned, and former foreign minister Hunt were both defeated because they failed to garner the required 30 votes. The day prior, three additional hopefuls were eliminated.

The six surviving candidates, who include former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, Attorney General Suella Braverman, and Tom Tugendhat, leader of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, will face a second round of voting on Thursday.

Subsequent voting will be held among Conservative MPs, with the contender with the fewest votes eliminated each time, to narrow the field to a final two by July 21.  The next leader will subsequently be picked from those two by the country's 200,000 Conservative party members and revealed on September 5.

The United Kingdom is today burdened by skyrocketing prices, increasing debt, and stifled economy. These occur against the backdrop of an energy crisis exacerbated by the Ukraine conflict, which has caused gasoline prices to skyrocket. The contest to succeed Johnson has heated up, with opposing teams slinging insults and some even proposing substantial tax cuts.