4 candidates remain in the race to lead the UK’s Conservative Party

LONDON — British lawmaker Mel Stride became the second candidate to be kicked out of the Conservative Party leadership contest, leaving four contenders still running to lead the party after its catastrophic election defeat.

Stride garnered just 16 votes in a ballot of Conservative lawmakers on Tuesday, finishing last of five contenders.

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

The four remaining contenders – Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat — will make pitches to 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 pick a winner, who will be announced Nov. 2.

Jenrick, who quit his role in the government led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over his opposition to its policies on immigration, reinforced his front-runner status, securing 33 votes. He has wooed the party’s right wing, arguing that the U.K. should curb immigration and leave the European Convention on Human Rights in order to take tough measures to stop people seeking asylum in the U.K.

Badenoch, a former business secretary, got 28 votes, while former foreign secretary Cleverly and ex-security minister Tugendhat each received 21 votes.

The party’s last contested leadership selection, in mid-2022, saw members choose Liz Truss over Sunak. Truss resigned after just 49 days in office when her tax-cutting plans rocked the financial markets and battered the value of the pound. The party then chose 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, taking their tally down to 121.