LONDON: Former finance minister Rishi Sunak led the field of Conservative MPs bidding to become Britain’s next prime minister in the first ballot of Tory lawmakers Wednesday, as the race narrowed to six with the elimination of two candidates.

Early frontrunner Sunak, who quit as finance minister last week to help trigger outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s downfall, topped the contest with 88 votes, followed by former defence minister Penny Mordaunt, on 67.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss finished third with 50 Conservative lawmakers’ support.

The remaining candidates to meet the minimum 30-vote threshold were former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, on 40, backbencher Tom Tugendhat, on 37, and Attorney General Suella Braverman, who scraped through with 32 votes.

However, former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, who finished runner-up to Johnson in the last contest in 2019, and newly appointed finance minister Nadhim Zahawi, were both eliminated after struggling to hit the threshold.

There will be no let-up to the contest, with another round of voting set for Thursday, as the ruling party tries to winnow the candidates list down to a final pair over the next week to then put to party members.

The battle has already been marked by infighting between the candidates, prompting the beaten Hunt to warn the remaining rivals that “smears & attacks may bring short term tactical gain but always backfire long term”.