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July 14th, 2022.
The latest round of voting for the Conservative leadership took place today. Their contenders were whittled down to 5 after the lowest polling candidate was excluded from the next round.
Results:-
The runners and riders: –
Rishi Sunak E 101
Penny Mordaunt F 83
Liz Truss F 64
Kemi Badenoch F, E 49
Tom Tugendhat 32
ELIMINATED
Suella Braverman F, E 27
The next vote is on Monday, with Friday being devoted to canvassing.
This vote was interesting in that Tugendhat and Braverman both dropped support from the previous round. Mordaunt closed her differential with Sunak slightly and pulled a little ahead of Truss. Tomorrow will see solid canvassing and horse trading for the votes that went to Tugendhat and Braverman.
As the voting progresses more and more dirt is being thrown around. Liz Truss is being described by leaked sources as mad, bad, and dangerous to know. Penny Mordaunt has been described by Lord Frost, ex-Brexit negotiator, as having a problem when it comes to understanding detail. He asked for her to be sacked when she was his Brexit deputy. Their paths also crossed when she was a trade minister.
The break before the next vote will see a series of TV debates, which will see more dirt thrown around by the candidates. The candidates are trying to be portrayed as pure as the driven snow, with all the dirt coming from supporters or anonymous leaks.
Sunak is distancing himself from Johnson but is coming across as suspiciously smooth and too well rehearsed. His problem is that he has obviously been planning his campaign since late last year and this does not sit well with the Conservative membership. They regard him as a traitor, planning his moves whilst going along with Johnson’s policies. He will in all probability top the final poll but will have difficulties when the vote goes to the membership.
