Conservative leadership race narrows to four contenders after Mel Stride’s ouster

British lawmaker Mel Stride has become the second candidate to be ousted from the Conservative Party leadership race, leaving four contenders still in the running to lead the party after its catastrophic election defeat.

Stride garnered just 16 votes in a vote among conservative lawmakers on Tuesday, finishing last among five contenders.

Former Home Secretary Priti Patel was ousted last week in an earlier vote.

The four remaining contenders – Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat – will appear before delegates at the Conservative Party conference in early October, after which lawmakers will whittle their number down to two.

Party members across the country will then vote to choose a winner, who will be announced on November 2.

Jenrick, who resigned from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government over his opposition to his immigration policies, strengthened his front-runner status, winning 33 votes. He has courted the party’s right wing, arguing that Britain should curb immigration and leave the European Convention on Human Rights so he can take tough measures to stop people seeking asylum in the U.K.

Badenoch, a former trade secretary, received 28 votes, while former foreign minister Cleverly and former security minister Tugendhat received 21 votes each.

At the party’s last leadership election in mid-2022, members elected Liz Truss over Sunak. Truss resigned after just 49 days in office when her tax-cutting plans shook financial markets and sent the pound plummeting. The party then elected Sunak to replace her.

In July, Sunak led the Conservative Party to its worst election result since 1832. The Conservatives lost more than 200 seats, reducing their total to 121.