Boris Johnson tops first ballot of Tory leadership voting

Johnson received 114 votes in the first round of voting

Boris Johnson has topped the ballot in the first round of voting for the Tory leadership contest after a secret vote in the House of Commons on Thursday. Mark Harper, Andrea Leadsom and Esther McVey have been eliminated from the contest after the vote, having received the fewest number of votes and, in Harper's case, no on knowing who he is or why he was there. Johnson received 114 votes in the ballot, Jeremy Hunt was in second with 43 votes, and Michael Gove finished third with 37. The two most popular MPs will go through to the final leadership vote at the end of June, with the winner and person granted the honour of leading Britain into the abyss expected to be named prime minister on July 22, replacing Theresa May, who remains prime minister despite resigning as leader of the Conservative party. Elsewhere in the voting, Dominic Raab finished fourth with 27 votes, Sajid Javid had 23, Matt Hancock came in sixth with 20 and Rory Stewart squeezed through the door with 19.