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7 July 2016

Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom will battle it out to be the next Prime Minister

Theresa May, the favourite, faces Andrea Leadsom in the final round. 

By Stephen Bush

Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom will battle to become Britain’s second female Prime Minister after Michael Gove was eliminated from the Conservative contest.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, came top of the MPs’ ballot with the votes of 199 of her peers. Andrea Leadsom, a junior energy minister, finished a distant second with 84. In third place was Michael Gove with 46 MPs.

Both the bookmakers and the pollsters make May the heavy favourite. YouGov, which has accurately predicted the result of every party election since its creation, gave May a 33-point over Leadsom. Survation’s poll of councillors gave her a lead of 50 per cent to 26 per cent, with the remainder undecided. 

The contest will now be decided by members of the Conservative party, who number just 150,000.

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