The next British prime minister will be in their forties

London: Rishi Sunak is on course to become one of the final two candidates to replace Boris Johnson as British prime minister.

The former chancellor of the exchequer won 88 votes when the results of the first round of voting by Conservative Party MPs were announced on Thursday morning (AEST).

Nadhim Zahawi (top right) and Jeremy Hunt (bottom left) have been eliminated from the Tory leadership contest. Still in the running are (top): Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak and Kemi Badenoch, and (bottom) Tom Tugendhat, Liz Truss and Suella Braverman.Credit:Getty Images

While there is still no clear indication of who Sunak would face in a final head-to-head run-off, several female candidates were gaining momentum.

Penny Mordaunt’s campaign gained strength – she came second with 67 votes – followed by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on 50 and Tom Tugendhat, a backbencher and long-time critic of Johnson, on 37.

Tugendhat described the result as “fantastic.”

Two candidates vying for the Brexiteer and “anti-woke” vote, Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman, were almost neck-and-neck on 30 and 32 votes respectively.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces his resignation on July 7.Credit:Getty

Two male candidates, including former cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt, who faced off against Boris Johnson for the leadership but lost in 2019, were eliminated after failing to secure the support of 30 MPs.

Hunt was the only MP to lose votes between nominating and the initial vote by MPs. All candidates required 20 to make it onto the ballot, but Hunt clocked just 18 votes, meaning two MPs switched their allegiances during the secret ballot.

“It’s become obvious to me you only get one big shot at this, and I had mine in 2019,” Hunt said after the result.

Nadhim Zahawi, who has been chancellor for one week after he replaced Sunak and then told Johnson to quit the next day, was also knocked out in the first round of voting after a disastrous week in which he struggled to explain his personal financial arrangements.

He managed just 25 votes.

“Clearly my part in the contest has now ended,” he said in a statement.

“I don’t intend to make any further intervention, but I wish all the candidates in the leadership contest the very best of luck.”

That leaves 43 votes up for grabs in the second round of voting on Thursday, London time.

Hunt and Zahawi were the only two candidates aged over 50 and their departure means the next prime minister will be in their forties. Opposition Leader Keir Starmer is 59.

Speaking at one of his last prime minister’s questions, Johnson told Starmer that any of the candidates to replace him would “wipe the floor with Captain Crasheroony Snoozefest.”

The candidates with the longest time in parliament – 12 years – are Truss and Mordaunt, who were both elected in 2010.

Sunak and Braverman were elected in 2015, while Badenoch and Tugendhat were elected in 2017.

Braverman said she was “pleased” to be through to the next round.

William Pitt the Younger remains the youngest prime minister of Great Britain, taking office in 1783 at the age of 24.

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