Robert Jenrick, who was appointed housing secretary by Boris Johnson in 2019, is now leading the race to become leader of the Conservative Party.

Yesterday, 121 Tory MPs cast their votes in the opening round of Conservative leadership voting, reducing the number of candidates from six to five.

In round one Jenrick secured 28 votes, followed by Kemi Badenoch who received 22 votes, while James Cleverly received 21 votes.

The Newark MP has spent the past two months travelling up and down the country to secure support for his leadership bid, and was among the first MPs to announce they would be running to become leader of the Conservative Party.

Former home secretary Priti Patel was the first candidate to be eliminated from the contest, receiving just 14 votes.

Tom Tugendhat (17 votes), and Mel Stride (16 votes) are the other two remaining candidates.

The number of candidates is expected to be reduced to four before the start of the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham on 29 September.

A decision of who will become leader will then be made by party members, with the winner announced on 2 November.