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		</div><p>Rishi Sunak remains the frontrunner after the third round of the Tory leadership contest, with Penny Mordaunt still in second place amid an increasingly bitter contest.</p>
<p>In the third ballot of the Tory leadership contest on Monday evening, Mr Sunak got 115 votes, Ms Mordaunt 82, Liz Truss 71, Kemi Badenoch 58 and Tom Tugendhat 31.</p>
<p>Attorney General and right-winger Suella Braverman, who was knocked out of the contest last week, had thrown her weight behind Ms Truss.</p>
<p>That endorsement, however, appears to have not been enough to push the Foreign Secretary into second place.</p>
<p>The ballot came after another fraught day of campaigning in the Tory Party leadership contest, despite concerns being expressed publicly about the growing divisions within the party over the contest.</p>
<p>Most notable on Monday was the accusation that Ms Mordaunt missed ministerial meetings because she was plotting her Tory leadership bid.</p>
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<p>The trade minister’s absence from meetings forced colleagues to pick up the pieces, Britain&#8217;s international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan earlier alleged.</p>
<p>In a sign of the concern about the way the leadership race is being conducted, Mr Sunak and Ms Truss confirmed they did not want to take part in a Sky News debate planned for Tuesday – prompting the broadcaster to cancel the show.</p>
<p>“Conservative MPs are said to be concerned about the damage the debates are doing to the image of the Conservative Party, exposing disagreements and splits within the party,” a Sky statement said.</p>
<p>UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he is “astonished” by candidates withdrawing from the debate, arguing that it demonstrates a lack of “confidence”.</p>
<p>He told reporters at a central London bank: “I can see, based on what I’ve seen in the debates so far, why they want to do so because this is a party that is out of ideas, out of purpose, they’re tearing each other apart.”</p>
<p>The leadership contenders – Mr Sunak, Ms Truss, Ms Mordaunt and Ms Badenoch – 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.</p>
<p>The exit of Mr Tugendhat from the contest was not unexpected, with the Tonbridge and Malling MP trailing behind rivals in the bid for Tory MP backers.</p>
<p>He had addressed his likely fate head-on earlier, dismissing any suggestion that he would drop out.</p>
<p>The PA News agency understands that at the behind-closed-doors hustings organised by the backbench 1922 Committee, he told MPs that it had been suggested to him that he should step aside and back another candidate.</p>
<p>He said: “It will come as no surprise that some have suggested I could leave with a job as well. But my view is clear. It is not for me to make that decision – it is for you.”</p>
<p>Tweeting after the contest, he said: “Although it wasn’t to be today, I am immensely proud of the positive vision we put forward for our country.</p>
<p>“Thank you to all those who supported me and believed in #ACleanStart.</p>
<p>“This is only the beginning!”</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">“Ten Ukrainian MPs endorse Penny Mordaunt”<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PM4PM?src=hash&;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PM4PM</a> <a href="https://t.co/S4oXeagKxS">pic.twitter.com/S4oXeagKxS</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Penny Mordaunt (@PennyMordaunt) <a href="https://twitter.com/PennyMordaunt/status/1548933304644165633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Ms Mordaunt’s record in office came in for further attack from Ms Trevelyan on LBC Radio on Monday morning.</p>
<p>Asked about Ms Mordaunt’s grasp of details, Ms Trevelyan said: “We all do our jobs in different ways.</p>
<p>“Understandably, perhaps, now it’s clear, Penny has for the last few months spent some of her time focused on preparing her leadership campaign, for which I have utmost respect, that’s how this system works.”</p>
<p>Ms Trevelyan added: “There have been a number of times when she hasn’t been available, which would have been useful, and other ministers have picked up the pieces.”</p>
<p>But former minister Harriet Baldwin, an ally of Ms Mordaunt, said: “Having worked with Penny Mordaunt for a number of years, I can confirm this is not true.</p>
<p>“She is one of the most hard-working ministers and constituency MPs I know. I look forward to Penny continuing to put forward her positive vision for Britain.”</p>
<p>Cabinet minister Kit Malthouse said he expects the Tories to pull together in a “spirit of harmony and love” after the leadership battle.</p>
<p>“All political parties are standing coalitions and the Conservative Party is the same,” he told Sky News.</p>
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<p>“A vigorous exchange of ideas, in what is a challenging time for the country, should be expected when you are talking about such important issues and the leadership of a G7 nation.</p>
<p>“If it was just a polite agreement and consensus across the board, there wouldn’t be much point in having a competition at all.”</p>
<p>Mr Malthouse has not publicly declared his support for any of the candidates to succeed Mr Johnson.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The new leader will be announced on September 5th and is expected to become prime minister the following day.</p>
<p>Mr Sunak said that if he is successful his first foreign trip will be to Kyiv to stress the UK’s continued support for Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion.</p>
<p>He told The Sun: “I will reinforce our policy of total support for Ukraine that Boris has so ably led.”</p>
<p>But Ms Mordaunt said her campaign has the support of 10 Ukrainian MPs.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Ms Truss seized on analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research which suggested that tax revenues in 2024/25 will be around £60 billion more than the Office for Budget Responsibility estimates, partly due to the impact of high inflation.</p>
<p>A spokeswoman for Ms Truss said: “The CEBR analysis shows that there is money for tax cuts whilst still bringing debt down.”</p>
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