UK Conservatives narrow their leadership race to 3 as a new front-runner surges

LONDON — Conservative lawmakers in Britain ejected former Security Minister Tom Tugendhat from the party leadership contest on Tuesday, leaving three contenders still running to lead the party after its catastrophic election defeat.

Tugendhat garnered 20 votes in a ballot of 120 members of Parliament, finishing last. Former Foreign Secretary James Cleverly topped the ballot with 39 votes.

Former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick got 31 votes and ex-Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch received 30.

Another candidate will be kicked out of the race by legislators on Wednesday, before tens of thousands of party members across the country choose between the final two. The winner will be announced on Nov. 2.

The result adds to Cleverly’s momentum in the race. Jenrick, a hard-liner who calls for Britain to make deep cuts to immigration and rip up European human rights law, had been considered the front-runner since the contest started in July.

Cleverly, a centrist, picked up support with a well-received speech at last week’s Conservative conference. He urged the fractious party “let's be more normal,” and argued he had the skills to defeat the Labour Party of Prime Minister Keir Starmer and return the Conservatives to power at the next election, due by 2029.

The party’s last contested leadership selection, in mid-2022, saw members choose Liz Truss over Rishi Sunak. Truss resigned as prime minister after just 49 days in office when her tax-cutting plans rocked the financial markets and battered the value of the pound. The party then picked Sunak to replace her.

In July, Sunak led the Conservative Party to its worst election result since 1832. The Conservatives lost more than 200 seats, taking their tally down to 121.