Rival Tory leadership candidates have turned their fire on Penny Mordaunt as she continues to gather momentum in an increasingly acrimonious race.
Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, is still the frontrunner, having secured 13 more votes in the second-round ballot on Thursday than he had the previous day, and Mordaunt pulled away from the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, who added fewer MPs to her tally despite her high-profile launch earlier in the day.
