Sunak, Truss face-off in UK premiership run-off

Former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will contest for the British Premiership and the leadership of the Conservative Party after they won the penultimate round of voting.

BBC reported that Sunak won the fifth and final round of voting after securing 137 votes, followed by Truss with 113 votes in a closely contested poll that was marred by allegations of vote lending.

Former Defence minister Penny Mordaunt became the latest candidate to be knocked out of the race after she came third with 105 votes. She joins Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch, who was eliminated after she came fourth in the fourth round of voting, according to Sky News.

Conservative MP John Glen, who is supporting Sunak’s bid for the Premiership, dismissed allegations that the former Finance minister instructed his supporters to lend their votes to other candidates to gain an advantage over his peers.

BBC quoted him as having said: “We’ve been trying to maximise the vote for Rishi Sunak. That’s what we’ve been doing for the last 12, 13 days. It will be for my colleagues to decide who the first two candidates are.”

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he would resign as Prime Minister and head of the governing Conservative Party following a string of resignations from senior ministers and aides over his handling of Chris Pincher’s appointment. The winner set to be announced on September 5.