The race to lead Britain’s Conservative Party is down to the final 2 candidates

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s opposition Conservative Party will choose either Robert Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch to be its next leader, after a third contender was dramatically knocked out of the leadership contest in a tight vote on Wednesday.

Badenoch, a former business secretary, received 42 of the 120 votes cast in a ballot of Tory lawmakers, while former immigration minister Jenrick got 41. Both are from the right of the party.

Former Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was eliminated after receiving 37 votes. A centrist, Cleverly came first in the penultimate voting round on Tuesday and had been considered likely to make the runoff.

Lawmakers have whittled the field down from six contenders in four rounds of voting.

Tens of thousands of party members across the country will vote at the end of this month, and the winner will be announced on Nov. 2.

Nigeria-raised Badenoch depicts herself as a disruptor, arguing for a low-tax, free-market economy and pledging to “rewire, reboot and reprogram” the British state.

Jenrick, who calls for Britain to make deep cuts to immigration and rip up European human rights law, has been considered the front-runner since the contest started in July.

The winner will lead a right-of-center party that suffered a catastrophic election defeat in July at the hands of the Labour Party led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The Conservatives lost more than 200 seats, taking their tally down to 121 — the party’s worst election result since 1832.

The Associated Press