We're going to leave our live coverage of the Tory leadership race here for the evening.

Today's page was written by Sam Hancock, Laurence Peter, Dulcie Lee and Jennifer McKiernan. It was edited by Nathan Williams and Jeremy Gahagan.

Join us tomorrow as the remaining candidates battle to scoop up more support ahead of another round of voting in the afternoon.

In the meantime, read our full story on the day's events here and find out more about the remaining candidates here.

We'll soon be ending our coverage of events in Westminster. Here are the latest developments where things have been hotting up inside and outside the Commons.

• Tom Tugendhat was eliminated from the leadership race after coming last in the latest round of voting
• Sunak topped the third poll of Tory MPs, with 115 votes
• Second was Penny Mordaunt with 82 votes, third was Liz Truss with 71, fourth was Kemi Badenoch with 58 and last was Tugendhat on 31
• The government won a vote of confidence in itself by 349 votes to 238, putting to bed the prospect of an early general election
• Opening the confidence debate, Boris Johnson defended his government's track record, saying it "delivered Brexit" and saved thousands of lives in the pandemic
• But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his "delusion" was never-ending and he had been "forced out in disgrace"

Two more rounds of voting tomorrow and Wednesday will cut the number of candidates down to a final two.

Conservative Party members will then pick a winner, determining their next leader and the UK's new prime minister.

Rishi Sunak still leads the way in voting and he's turned to Twitter to react to the latest result of polling among Conservative MPs.

He says he's got "great momentum after a tough set of debates".

The former chancellor also thanks Tom Tugendhat, who was knocked out of the contest earlier, for fighting a "really good, positive campaign".

The government has won a vote of confidence in itself, by 349 votes to 238.

It had been expected to win the motion as it had the support of many Tory MPs.

Had it lost, the country would have almost certainly faced an early general election.

Image source, BBC Parliament

MPs have just filed out of the chamber to start voting on whether they have confidence in the government.

The government is expected to win, as the Conservatives still have a large majority.

But if it doesn't, it will likely spell an early general election.

In a slight quirk, the government brought forward the motion itself after it rejected Labour's proposed wording, which contained a specific reference to the prime minister.

We'll bring you the result as soon as we get it.

With Boris Johnson back in the Commons, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab says he "proudly" defends the government under his leadership.

Raab says the government has "steered the country through some of the most difficult challenges in living memory" and has got the big calls right on issues including vaccines and lockdowns.

Back in the House of Commons, MPs are still debating a confidence motion in the government.

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner says the prime minister is not fit for office but the Conservatives plan to "indulge" him for the next seven weeks, until his successor is chosen.

Describing him as a "caretaker known for no care", she says: "Every day he's in Downing Street he does more damage. He should be long gone."

"Let us tell this prime minister to go, and to go now. Enough is enough."

With the latest round of Tory leadership votes revealed, and with four runners left in the race, who are the candidates hoping to progress further in the race?

Rishi Sunak is the former chancellor who launched his leadership bid with a focus on the economy, ruling out tax cuts before public finances improve.

Despite his reputation being dented by a controversy over his wife's tax affairs - and being fined for breaching lockdown rules - Sunak currently leads after the latest round of voting by Tory MPs, with backers including former leadership rivals Grant Shapps and Jeremy Hunt, as well as Deputy PM Dominic Raab.

Image source, .

Trade minister Penny Mordaunt has, so far, been the shock contender. She has come second in all three rounds of voting, and was for a time the bookies' favourite. She has promised to cut VAT on fuel and to raise the basic and middle earner income tax thresholds in line with inflation. Her supporters include senior backbenchers Andrea Leadsom and David Davis.

A Royal Navy reservist, Mordaunt made history in 2019 when she became the UK’s first female defence secretary – a post she held for just 85 days until Boris Johnson replaced then PM Theresa May.

Image source, .

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss decided to lead on promising immediate tax cuts, a reversal of the National Insurance hike and a long-term commitment to reducing the size of the state.

Popular among Conservative Party members, Truss secured early backing from Boris Johnson loyalists Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, and Jacob Rees-Mogg – as well as former leadership hopeful and staunch Brexiteer Suella Braverman.

Image source, .

Former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch has pledged tax cuts and low regulation – and repeatedly challenged Mordaunt on her record when it comes to gender self-identification for transgender people.

A former software engineer, she became an MP in 2017 and went on to become equalities minister in 2021 then minister for levelling up under Michael Gove, who has backed her leadership bid.

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Liz Truss gained seven votes in this round, coming third with 71.

Chloe Smith, who's campaigning for the foreign secretary, tells the BBC "you’ve seen people coming toward Liz".

"The key point people see is experience, her wide range of experience across departments, she's trusted to deliver from day one".

When challenged on the fact that Truss still came third, again behind Penny Mordaunt, she adds "Liz’s result is going up, Penny’s has come down by one".

But MPs who voted for Tom Tugendhat may prefer to back Mordaunt, rather than Truss, in the next round.

Smith however says the Truss campaign "is a very broad church, so I'd say to friends and colleagues: please come and look at Liz’s wide range of experience".

It's the end of the road for Tom Tugendhat, who has just tweeted his reaction to being eliminated: "Although it wasn’t to be today, I am immensely proud of the positive vision we put forward for our country."

In an accompanying video, he says he won't talk about who he is backing yet: "I'll listen to what they have to say and I'll be making my judgement later."

He says the country is "crying out" for a clean start and concludes: "This is only the beginning!"

Latest round leaves 31 votes looking for a homepublished at 20:55 British Summer Time 18 July 2022

20:55 BST 18 July 2022

Chris Mason
Political editor

Image source, PA Media

Tonight's result was very close to what many here expected.

Tom Tugendhat knocked out, and the remaining four in the same order as they were in the second round.

But let's look at the numbers in a bit more detail.

Team Sunak appear happy.

The challenge with being the frontrunner is the focus and novelty shifts to those chasing the other place in the final two, and you potentially lose your ooomph.

"That’s a cracking result - Rishi gaining most - even given Suella’s voters least likely to be attracted," one former cabinet minister backing Sunak tells me.

"He had a lead of 18 over 2nd placed Penny on Friday. Now it’s 33. Momentum."

Penny Mordaunt has gone backwards – losing a vote compared to last time.

This has cheered Team Truss, who point out they have narrowed the gap to Mordaunt "pretty considerably" and they say there is "all to play for."

But Kemi Badenoch, who finished fourth, is only 13 votes behind the foreign secretary.

A Team Badenoch campaign source tells me: “Kemi is pleased to have taken it to the next vote. She has momentum over both Mordaunt and Truss. It’s all to play for and Kemi is in it to win."

And then there is Tom Tugendhat.

He has bowed out with warm words about the contest and his colleagues – but hasn't yet said who he will now back.

There are 31 votes looking for a home tomorrow, in round four.

And so five become four as we approach the final two votes for MPs – tomorrow and Wednesday – which will determine the two contenders who will be picked from by Conservative Party members.

Penny Mordaunt supporter Harriett Baldwin tells the BBC, supporters of Tom Tugendhat, who has just been knocked out of the running, will go to her preferred candidate.

"Penny will attract a lot of his supporters because she's someone who's also very strong on defence," she says.

Mordaunt is also strong on the economy and security, Baldwin says, adding she's "someone ready to be prime minister on day one" but also with the ability to "win an unprecedented fifth general election".

Ben Bradley MP, a Conservative campaigner for Kemi Badenoch, said her 58 votes – meaning she gained votes – showed that she had gained "momentum".

"Kemi is in a good place to move forward," he told the BBC.

"It's a good result, Kemi has done well," he said.

"I think she'll be quite positive, see the momentum that's built… we'll talk to colleagues and try to drag them into our tent."

In the second round Badenoch got 49 votes, so she gained nine more this time.

Bradley also said Badenoch had "resonated with the public, with [Conservative] members".

He dismissed speculation about any job deal for her in exchange for withdrawing from the race.

Her tally means she came fourth in this round.

Image source, .

Frontrunner Rishi Sunak has added 14 votes to his tally in this latest round, going from 101 votes to 115 today.

Penny Mordaunt is now in second position, despite losing one vote this round, moving from 83 to 82 votes.

Third-placed Liz Truss added seven votes, bringing her total up to 71 from 64.

Despite now being in last place, Kemi Badenoch added on the second largest number of supporters this round, increasing her share by nine votes and going from 49 to 58 votes.

Tom Tugendhat made it far enough to take part in the TV debates, and played up the fact he had never served in Boris Johnson's cabinet.

Campaigning for a "clean start", he tried to persuade Conservative MPs he'd demonstrated leadership as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

That experience, he said, plus his military service on the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan, meant he was now ready to serve the country on a political battleground.

But Tugendhat's campaign has now ended in defeat, with not enough support to see him through to the final stages.

With 115 votes, former chancellor Rishi Sunak has held onto his place at the front of the pack.

In second place, we have Penny Mordaunt with 82 votes, leaving them the most likely to be one of the final two candidates in the leadership race.

Two candidates will now battle over third place: Liz Truss with 71 votes and Kemi Badenoch with 58 votes.

Image source, .

Tom Tugendhat has been knocked out of the leadership race after coming last in the latest round of voting.

Rishi Sunak secured the most votes in third ballot among Tory MPs, with Penny Mordaunt coming second.

The votes were as follows:

• Rishi Sunak - 115
• Penny Mordaunt - 82
• Liz Truss - 71
• Kemi Badenoch - 58
• Tom Tugendhat - 31

The four remaining candidates will face another vote tomorrow, where the slate will be whittled down to three.

Tom Tugendhat's bid to be the next Tory leader has come to an end, leaving four contenders in the race to take over the reins from Boris Johnson.

Best known as the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tugendhat secured 31 votes, leaving him in last place.

Sir Graham Brady has just arrived in the committee room and is about to tell us who has made it through the third round of voting in this Tory leadership contest.

Stick with us – we'll bring you the results very shortly.