THE PERSON WHO succeeds David Cameron as Prime Minister of the UK when he steps down later this year will be a woman.

The third round of voting in the Conservative Party’s leadership race today saw justice secretary and Leave campaigner Michael Gove eliminated after failing to secure enough support from his party’s MPs – leaving Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom in contention for the job.

The pair will now face off against each other in a vote by the Conservative party membership with the result due on 9 September.

While May has proven the runaway favourite with her fellow MPs, a vote by the 150,000-strong grassroots may be less predictable.

Surprise candidate Leadsom has the backing of former Mayor of London Boris Johnson, and has the advantage of being on the Leave side in the Brexit referendum.

Qualifications 

In recent days Leadsom – who has played upon her background in finance as a strength in conducting Britain’s exit from the EU –  has faced questions about some elements of her CV.

An official CV published earlier this week contains a number of amendments about titles and roles she held in companies, the Guardian reports. 

Eliminated 

Bowing out of the race for PM today was Michael Gove, the justice minister who initially appeared to support Boris Johnson in his push for the top job in British politics – before performing an about-face and declaring his own interest.

He received just 46 votes from 329 of his fellow Tory MPs (199 voted for May, 84 for Leadsom).

Speaking following his elimination today, Gove said that he was “naturally disappointed” not to have made his way to the final round of the leadership contest, before calling Leadsom and May “formidable politicians”.

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