The opening round of voting in the contest to select the next leader of the Conservatives has eliminated its first candidate.
Tory MPs had the chance to cast their ballots for one of six candidates vying to be the successor to Rishi Sunak on Wednesday.
And the results have seen former Home Secretary Priti Patel knocked out of the race at the first time of asking.
The final count left one-time immigration minister Robert Jenrick the leading contender, with 28 votes, ahead of nearst challenger Kemi Badenoch, on 22.
Mel Stride and Tom Tugendhat sneaked through just ahead of the eliminated Patel, on 16 and 17, respectively.
James Cleverly, another former Home Secretary, received 21 votes from his fellow MPs.
The ballot will narrow down the list, with further voting rounds to take place throughout September, with the aim of four candidates setting out their vision for the party to Tory members at the Conservatives’ party conference at the start of October.
After that, MPs will carry out further rounds of voting to select two final candidates for party members to choose between, with the result announced on 2 November.
Here, Yahoo News UK takes a look at the six candidates in the running to be the next Conservative leader…
Robert Jenrick
Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister who received 28 votes to end the first round of the contest in pole position, sits on the right of the party, resigning from his post in December as he thought Sunak’s Rwanda policy “did not go far enough”.
He told the BBC that the Tories lost because it failed to deliver on “crucial issues” such as immigration, adding that the party should be “repenting” for its mistakes.
In a column for the Telegraph, Jenrick responded to claims that he is “very right wing”, adding: “These are mainstream views. These are views held by millions of people across our country. What the Conservative Party has to do is understand what mainstream opinion in this country actually is, and make sure it’s on the side of working people.”
Seat: Jenrick held his seat in Newark with 20,968 votes to the Labour candidate’s 17,396.
Kemi Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch, the current shadow housing secretary, was business secretary in Sunak’s government.
Popular with the Tory grassroots, she ran unsuccessfully for the party leadership in 2022 but put herself in a better position this time around, ending the first round of voting with the backing of 22 Tory MPs in the first round of the contest.
Badenoch was also women and equalities minister and vowed to change the Equality Act to rewrite the definition of sex and allow organisations to bar transgender women from single-sex spaces.
She was embroiled in a high-profile row with actor David Tennant, who said at the British LGBT Awards: “Until we wake up and Kemi Badenoch doesn’t exist any more – I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up…” Badenoch accused him of being a “rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology”.
Seat: Badenoch won her North West Essex seat with 19,360 votes to the Labour candidate’s 16,750.
James Cleverly
James Cleverly, the ex-home secretary, is a centrist – he said the Rwanda plan was not the “be all and end all” – who previously served as foreign secretary and was first elected as the Tory MP for Braintree in May 2015.
After an injury cut short his army career, he got a business degree and joined the Territorial Army. Cleverly worked in magazine and digital publishing before setting up his own business.
Cleverly said his priorities are to boost national security, reduce migration and restore “confidence in capitalism”.
He was third in the opening round of MP votes in the leader ship contest, winning 21 ballots.
Seat: Cleverly was successful in Braintree, winning 17,414 votes to his Labour challenger’s 13,744.
Tom Tugendhat
Tom Tugendhat was appointed security minister in September 2022 by Liz Truss.
Like Badenoch, he stood for the party leadership that year and has put himself forward again. A Remainer in 2016, Tugendhat is seen as one of the more moderate leadership contenders.
Launching his leadership bid, Tugendhat said he would use his party’s period in opposition to prepare for action “on day one” of a new government, saying his mission is “the happiness and prosperity of the British people”.
He finished the first round of voting third bottom, with the support of 17 MPs.
Seat: Tugendhat won his Tonbridge seat with 20,517 votes to the Labour candidate’s 9,351: one of the bigger majorities won by a Tory in the election.
Mel Stride
Former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride threw his hat in the ring after “a number of colleagues” urged him to stand.
The Central Devon MP is viewed as a safe pair of hands within the party and was frequently sent out to tour broadcast studios to defend Sunak’s leadership during the disastrous general election campaign.
He argued against “ideological labels” when pressed on whether he would seek to prevent a rightward shift in the party, but said he wanted the party to have “that One Nation tradition”.
Stride made it through to the next round of the contest just ahead of Priti Patel, who was eliminated, on 17 votes.
Seat: Stride held his seat in Central Devon by a narrow margin, with 16,831 votes to Labour’s candidate’s 16,770.
