Sajid Javid has been knocked out of the Conservative leadership race, leaving Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson to face a final MPs’ vote later today.
In this fourth ballot of the race, Javid got the lowest number of votes at 34.
Gove got 61, Hunt got 59, and Johnson got 157.
Two votes were spoilt, meaning only 311 rather than 313 were cast.
Boris Johnson has increased his already huge share of the votes from MPs, gaining 14 votes since the last round.
A further ballot will take place tonight, after which the two remaining candidates will then go off to nationwide party hustings over the weekend, as long as nobody withdraws from the race at that stage.
Boris Johnson has not yet indicated if he will participate in further televised debates.
Both Sajid Javid and Rory Stewart have insisted there should not be a “coronation”, as happened in 2016 in the leadership race after David Cameron stepped down.
That race was cut short after the second round when Michael Gove was eliminated and Andrea Leadsom dropped out, handing the premiership to May without taking the vote to the Conservative Party’s 124,000 members.
Boris Johnson has been backed by the Evening Standard, edited by former chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne, which published an editorial titled: “We back Boris as the PM to turn Britain around”.
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