Tory leadership contest: who is leading the vote, what were third round results and where could votes go?

The latest round of voting in the Tory leadership contest has left only four candidates standing.

Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch have all progressed to the fourth round, while Tom Tugendhat was knocked out of the race following the third ballot.

The next vote is due to take place on Tuesday 19 July, with results expected at around 4pm. But the results of the third round of voting has opened the race up, with some favourites seeing their support shrink.

Here’s everything you need to know about how to Tory leadership race is shaping up.

What were the results of the third round?

As expected, former Chancellor Rishi Sunak came out on top once again. However, his 14 vote increase from the second round may come as a surprise to some, after appearing to pick up votes from ex-candidate Suella Braverman.

Penny Mordaunt had been riding a wave of momentum, after taking second place in the last round ahead of Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and being ranked as the bookies favourite to win.

While Ms Mordaunt still holds the second position in the race, her support actually decreased by one vote.

It comes after fellow candidates Kemi Badenoch and Ms Truss criticised the minister for her views on gender identity and the policy of self-ID.

Ms Mordaunt has attempted to clarify her views, while denoucing personal “smears” throughout the race.

Ms Truss remains in third place, but gained seven votes from Ms Braverman’s former share.

Ms Badenoch gained nine votes, two more than Ms Truss, with some in the Tory party prefering to back the right-leaning candidate.

Tom Tugendhat was expected to be eliminated and fufilled this expectation, finishing with one less vote than the second round.

Third round ballot results

• Rishi Sunak - 115 (+14)
• Penny Mordaunt - 82 (-1)
• Liz Truss - 71 (+7)
• Kemi Badenoch - 58 (+9)
• Eliminated: Tom Tugendhat - 31 (-1)

How will votes be shared going forward?

Throughout each round of voting, the same number of votes can be cast meaning that as the candidate poll shrinks, hopefuls will likely pick up more votes.

In the last round, Ms Braverman was vocally against Ms Mordaunt and urged her support to back Ms Truss.

Some of her supporters did give their vote to the Foreign Secretary, many instead lended their vote to Ms Badenoch.

Ms Badenoch has been viewed as a further right-wing candidate, with the right of the party placing their trust in the MP.

Perhaps more surprisingly, Mr Sunak appeared to gain from Ms Braverman’s departure from the race.

The former Chancellor is now just five votes off being guarranteed a place in the final two.

Candidates who gain 120 votes in any round are automatically giving a place in the run-off vote.

Going forward, all eyes will be on how Mr Tugendhat’s votes share will be split between the remaining four candidates.

While Ms Mordaunt has hit a bump in her otherwise smooth race so far, she is likely to benefit from these 31 floating votes within the race.

This is due to Mr Tugendhat’s political position lining up most with the trade policy minister.

However, as seen with Ms Braverman’s support and with the vocal opposition to Ms Mordaunt’s political history, there are no guarrantees for her that she will pick up most of these votes.