Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss will take part in a raft of hustings over the next six weeks before one of them becomes the next UK prime minister.
But after spending most of the race in third position, Ms Truss had a late surge in support in the final round to take the second spot from Ms Mordaunt, with 113 votes to her competitor's 105, and has become the bookies' favourite.
But Mr Sunak insisted he was"best placed to beat Keir Starmer in the next election", saying he would"support people... grow our economy and take advantage of the freedoms that Brexit gives us".Liz Truss is now bookies' favourite She told Sky News' Sophy Ridge that Mr Johnson"had something the electorate connected with", but he"broke that trust", adding:"The two contenders now were part of that government and they don't have that connection with the public. The public have had enough of this Conservative Party."The first official Conservative Party hustings for members will take place in Leeds next Thursday, and 11 other events will follow across all four nations of the UK.
Around 160,000 members were eligible to take part in the previous leadership election that saw Boris Johnson defeat Jeremy Hunt, but that number is expected to have increased since then.The result will then be announced on 5 September, with the winner expected to replace Boris Johnson in Number 10 the following day.
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