Ex-finance minister Rishi Sunak tops first vote to be next UK PM
Sunak secures support from 88 of the party's 358 Members of Parliament
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Sunak secures support from 88 of the party's 358 Members of Parliament
Junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt comes second with 67 votes and foreign minister Liz Truss third with 50.
Former British finance minister Rishi Sunak won the most votes in the first round of voting to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister, as two candidates were eliminated.
Conservative leadership hopefuls scramble to out-pledge each other. But awaiting the winner is a divided party and deepening economic crisis.
Britain faces an unsustainable debt burden more than three times its current level unless future governments raise taxes to fund increasing costs from an ageing population and falling revenue from