Tom Tugendhat has been knocked out of the Conservative Party leadership race following the latest round of voting. Mr Tugendhat received only 31 votes in the third round of the poll on Monday.
Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak still leads the race after winning 115 votes. Penny Mordaunt is in second place with 82, with Liz Truss on 71 and Kemi Badenoch on 58.
Read more: Tory leadership debate on Sky News cancelled as Sunak and Truss decline to attend
Following his elimination Mr Tugendhat said he will listen to what other candidates have to say before deciding who to support. In a video posted to Twitter, he said: "That is the end of the road for me in this race, but look, it has been an amazing run, I'm incredibly proud of the team, I'm incredibly grateful to all the supporters who have been with me at some – if not all – stages of the race we fought for a clean start because we know that that's what the country is crying out for.
"We've seen that in the response to the two debates, we've seen that in the engagement we've had from people. Now I'm going to be with you, of course, over the next two years, fighting in the council elections and then fighting again in the general election and then long into the future, because we need to make sure that our party, the Conservative Party, is able to deliver a clean start for the country and for ourselves.
“But please, I'm not going to be talking about any candidates at the moment, I'll listen to what they have to say and I'll be making my judgment later."
A series of votes among Tory MPs this week will narrow the field down to a final two, who will then face a summer of campaigning for the support of party members in a final vote. The new leader will be announced on September 5 and is expected to become prime minister the following day.
Meanwhile the Tory leadership debate on Sky News planned for Tuesday night was cancelled after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss indicated they did not want to take part, the broadcaster said. The leadership contenders have already taken part in debates on Channel 4 and ITV which have seen the would-be prime ministers taking primetime pot shots at each other.
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