Rishi Sunak won the 'first' battle in the race for the post of British PM, Penny Mordent at the second position

British Indian-origin leader Rishi Sunak on Wednesday led the race for Britain's prime ministership with the highest 88 votes in the first round of Conservative Party MPs. With this, instead of 8 candidates, now 6 candidates are left in this race. Rishi Sunak was followed by Commerce Minister Penny Mordent with 67 votes and Foreign Minister Liz Truss with 50 votes. Former minister Kemi Badenoch got 40 votes and backbencher Tom Tugendat got 37 votes. At the same time, 32 votes came in the account of Attorney General Suella Braverman.

Current Finance Minister Nadim Jahavi and former cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt have pulled out of the leadership race after the first round of voting. They failed to garner the 30 votes needed to make it to the next round. They got 25 and 18 votes respectively. Although Sunak has maintained a steady lead among his Tory parliamentary allies, the Conservative Party's membership base appears to favor Penny Mordant. 

Sunak has emerged as the first choice of bookies. However, speculators are also betting on other potential contenders like Secretary of State Liz Truss and Penny Mordent. Tory leader Steve Baker withdrew his candidacy, expressing support for Goa-origin Attorney General Suella Braverman, which strengthened his candidacy. Braverman is one of the first leaders to express his intention to join the race for the post of PM. However, in the voting held on Wednesday, he is behind all the 6 leaders who have reached the next round.