The Conservative MPs held their third ballot and whittled it down to four candidates: three women and one man. Two are white ladies and there is a black British woman and a British Indian man. The only white male still in the contest was knocked out on Monday 18 July.
In poll position is Rishi Sunak, aged 42. Mr. Sunak is a Hindu and a total abstainer from alcohol. He is on the left of the party and stressed fiscal prudence when he was in charge of UK finances. He is married to an Indian heiress Akshata Murthy and has been blessed with a brace of children. The former Deutsche Bank wunderkind was a self-made multimillionaire by the age of 30. He is a graduate of Oxford and Stanford. Sunak was a Conservative since his teens, when being a Tory was painfully unfashionable. He was born in the United Kingdom to parents of Indian extraction.
In second place is Penny Mordaunt. Miss Mordaunt, 49, is the oldest candidate in the race. She wed at 26, but divorced within a year. She lives with her long-term boyfriend and has no children. She is a graduate of the University of Reading (pronounced RED ing). Mordaunt is confused about her own policy positions. Claim to fame: she was the first woman to the British Defence Secretary. She held the post for under 3 months. She is MP for Portsmouth: the HQ of the Royal Navy. Though rather unimpressive and dim, she is the only person who might be able to beat Rishi Sunak.
In third position is Liz Truss, aged 45. Elizabeth Truss is Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary. Miss Truss is married and has two children, but goes by her maiden name in politics. She was once an anti-monarchist. She has since become a conventional conservative.
In fourth place is Kemi Badenoch aged 41. Mrs. Badenoch was born in London to Nigerian parents. She grew up in Nigeria and the USA. She attended the University of Sussex in the UK. She worked in IT for a bank before entering public life. She is married and has two children.
Badenoch is anti-woke. She is seen as the most right wing candidate. She is the only ever black person to contest the leadership of a British political party.
The man eliminated in this round was Tom Tugendhat. Tugendhat, aged 49 came from a traditional background for a British Conservative MP. He was the son of a Conservative politician. He attended St Paul's School, Bristol and Cambridge Universities. He spoke fluent Arabic and was a part-time army officer. Tugendhat was a moderate in the party and had wanted the UK to remain in the EU.
All five candidates said they would NOT give Boris Johnson a job in their cabinet. Tugendhat said Johnson was dishonest.
Among ordinary party members, Penny Mordaunt is the most popular. The MPs narrow it down to two candidates. Then the ordinary members vote on it in August.
Sunak said he would not cut tax if he becomes PM. He said it would be irresponsible to do so and could aggravate inflation. The others favour a tax cut.
The 31 votes that Tugendhat won will probably go to Penny M and Rishi Sunak. The likelihood is that in the next round, the running order shall be the same: Sunak, Mordaunt, Truss and then Badenoch knocked out. Sunak seems unstoppable to get into the final two. But the grassroots prefer Penelope Mordaunt. Boris Johnson is still liked by swathes of the party. His sway counts for a lot. If he gives his endorsement to her, it will help her a lot.
Boris Johnson is expected to stand down by 5 September.
The author is a political analyst from UK. You can watch him on YouTube: George from Ireland