Summary

  • Tom Tugendhat has been knocked out of the Tory leadership race

  • He came last in the latest round of voting by Conservative MPs

  • Four go through to the next round - Rishi Sunak, who topped the poll, Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch

  • By Wednesday we'll be left with just two candidates - then Conservative Party members will decide the winner

  • Meanwhile, the government won a vote of confidence in itself by 349 votes to 238, putting to bed the prospect of an early general election

  • During the confidence debate, Boris Johnson celebrated delivering Brexit and attacked the Labour party for trying 48 times to "overturn the will of the people"

  • Labour leader Keir Starmer asked why Conservatives are leaving Johnson "with his hands on the levers of power for eight weeks"

Live Reporting

Edited by Jeremy Gahagan

  1. Divisions in the Tory party?

    Sunak and TrussPA Media

    Hours before Sky News announced it had cancelled tomorrow’s debate, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Kit Malthouse told the broadcaster his party would come back together in a “spirit of harmony and love” after the Tory leadership campaign.

    Sky axed the event after former chancellor Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss confirmed they wouldn’t be attending, amid concerns the ones so far had exposed “disagreements and splits within the party”.

    Asked about this very issue earlier, Malthouse told Sky that a “vigorous exchange of ideas, in what is a challenging time for the country, should be expected when you are talking about such important issues and the leadership of a G7 nation”.

    He added he thought it was “good” for political organisations to have debates and that if it was “just a polite agreement and consensus across the board, there wouldn't be much point in having a competition at all”.

  2. Sky cancels final leadership debate

    The third and final TV debate of the Tory leadership contest has been cancelled, following reports that two of the leading candidates – Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss – did not want to take part.

    In a statement, Sky News, which was to host the event, said the pair had confirmed their absence and added:

    Conservative MPs are said to be concerned about the damage the debates are doing to the image of the Conservative Party, exposing disagreements and splits within the party. Both are very welcome to take part in future Sky News televised debates."

    Sky News

    Earlier, The Times' Steven Swinford tweeted to say he’d heard Sunak and Truss were unlikely to take part in the debate over concerns the ones so far had "been incredibly damaging for Tories".

    This infographic shows Rishi Sunak out in front in the latest odds by bookmakers.

  3. Welcome

    Thanks for joining our live politics coverage as we get ready for another busy day in the race to replace Boris Johnson as Tory leader and prime minister.

    Five remain in the contest. Former chancellor Rishi Sunak leads the pack after last week’s final vote by Conservative MPs, followed by Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. Former minister Kemi Badenoch and senior backbencher Tom Tugendhat complete the list.

    It's all to play for, though, with the third round of voting taking place today – results due at 20:00 BST.

    Stay tuned for live updates throughout the day.