Penny Mordaunt makes it through fourth round of MP voting in Tory leadership race - Portsmouth North MP still in the running with Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss

Kemi Badenoch was voted out in the fourth round, leaving Ms Mordaunt one of the three final candidates along with Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.

While Mr Sunak topped the fourth MPs' poll, Ms Mordaunt came second with 26 fewer votes than Mr Sunak.

Shortly after the news broke, Ms Mordaunt tweeted: ‘This afternoon colleagues once again put their trust in me and I cannot thank them enough. We are so nearly across the finish line. I am raring to go and excited to put my case to members across the country and win.

‘I want to pay tribute to my friend @KemiBadenoch who electrified the leadership contest with her fresh thinking and bold policies. She and I both know that the old way of government isn’t working as it should.

‘Voters want change and we owe it to them to offer a bold new vision for this country. Kemi’s passion for this showed and I’m glad she put herself forward to be heard.’

Ms Truss received a surge in support in her battle against Ms Mordaunt to face Mr Sunak in the Tory leadership election run-off.

She picked up 15 votes to command the support of 86 Tory MPs in the penultimate ballot, as the right of the party appears to be coalescing around her in the race for No 10.

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Ms Mordaunt increased her share by 10 to sit on 92, while Mr Sunak gained an extra three votes to put him in 118, just shy of the number effectively guaranteeing him entry to the final phase.

Ms Badenoch came last in the ballot on 59 votes, with Ms Truss believed to be more likely to pick up a significant number of those votes than Ms Mordaunt during the next ballot to be held on Wednesday.

As part of her bid to become the next prime minister, Ms Mordaunt recently launched a new campaign video in which she promises to cut the cost of fuel if she became PM.