The former chancellor won 88 votes, but lesser known dark-horse challenger Penny Mordaunt won 67 and is snapping at his heels.
| Rishi Sunak, whose resignation helped trigger the downfall of Boris Johnson last week, took an early lead in the race to succeed him as leader of the ruling Conservative Party leader and Britain’s prime minister.
Despite the early show of support for Mr Sunak, the latest YouGov poll of Tory grassroots members – who make the final decision, via a month-long postal vote, once Conservative MPs have narrowed the field down to two – suggested he would be beaten in a run-off against either Ms Mordaunt or Ms Truss.
The result has been a plethora of promises to reduce taxes to ease Britain’s cost-of-living crisis, but with few details on which public services would be cut to fund them. So far, Mr Sunak has been the exception on taxes, with the former chancellor promising that he would only cut them once Britain’s soaring inflation has been brought under control. He has won the backing of Tory big-hitters including Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Health Secretary Steve Barclay in his campaign for the top job.
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