• Sajid Javid was eliminated from the race to replace Theresa May as Conservative Party leader and prime minister.
• The home secretary fell out in the fourth round of voting after losing support from Conservative MPs.
• The race for second place behind Boris Johnson is now between Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove.

LONDON – Sajid Javid has been eliminated from the race to replace Theresa May as Conservative Party leader and prime minister.

The home secretary received fewer votes than his three rivals in a secret ballot on Thursday morning, with support consolidating around Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove, the two candidates who colleagues believe are best-placed to take on Boris Johnson in the final two.

Boris Johnson once again topped the poll, winning 157 votes from Conservative MPs, while Michael Gove jumped into sceond place with 61 votes. Hunt, who placed second in the first three rounds of voting, placed third with 59 votes.

Two of the votes were spoilt ballots.

A fourth and final round of voting will take place on Thursday evening, where the third-placed candidate will be knocked out. The result is due at around 18.15 GMT.

One from the remaining two candidates will then be selected as the next Conservative leader in July by the party’s 160,000-or-so members.

The winner will be announced on July 22.

Javid, who was seen as an outsider in the leadership race, played a prominent role in the contest, winning plaudits for making all other candidates agree to hold an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in the party if they become prime minister.

He was appointed as Home Secretary in 2018, and has also served as Business Secretary and Culture Secretary. </s> Rory Stewart said he was “never confident” but “always hopeful” as he battled to remain in the contest to be the next prime minister.

As Tory MPs vote for the second time, candidates need to secure 33 votes to survive, and Mr Stewart said he believed he had that number “if everybody does what they say”.

International Development Secretary Mr Stewart, who managed just 19 votes last week, and Home Secretary Sajid Javid, who got 23, were locked in a fight to reach the threshold.

Mr Javid said he was “quietly confident” of making it through, adding that he was “looking forward to the debate this evening” – the remaining candidates will appear on the BBC at 8pm.

The Home Secretary, the state educated son of a bus driver, urged colleagues to back him to prevent the contest looking like “a debate at the Oxford Union”.

Mr Javid, the only candidate left in the race not to have gone to Oxford University, said it would not be “healthy” for the party if all the candidates left in the contest had similar backgrounds.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If we end up in a situation where the final two, three, four even, are people from similar backgrounds with similar life experiences, it will look like a debate at the Oxford Union and I just don’t think that’s healthy for the Tory Party.”

The Home Secretary joked that his style was “less Homer’s Iliad and more Homer Simpson”.

In a sign that the contest is becoming more personal, a former aide to Mr Javid claimed Mr Stewart’s supporters were targeting the Home Secretary’s backers “urging them to vote for Rory so we can offer ‘something different’ in final two”.

Further votes on Wednesday and Thursday will see two candidates selected for the final ballot of Tory members, with frontrunner Boris Johnson almost certain to be one of them.

On Twitter, Mr Javid’s ex-special adviser Nick King added: “Saj’s dad was an immigrant. Saj went to his local comp and an FE College. Rory went to Eton and Balliol just like Boris.”

Mr Stewart, who has been forced to deny allegations that he had been a spy for MI6, suggested the claims about his background were the result of a rival “getting a bit rattled”.

His campaign has gathered momentum and won the backing of de facto deputy prime minister David Lidington, but he faces a difficult task to overhaul the vote tallies of rivals.

Mr Johnson, the clear winner in the first round of voting, will face his first televised showdown of the campaign when he appears at the BBC debate later.

He has secured even more pledges of support – including former leadership rival Andrea Leadsom – since winning 114 votes last week.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Environment Secretary Michael Gove were the only other candidates to secure more than 33 votes in the first round.

Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, who got 27 votes, said he too was now “quietly” confident of reaching 33.

In a new campaign video, Mr Raab said his love of karate and boxing had “been pretty good in terms of preparing me for other big moments”.

He highlighted the importance of education, saying “everyone should have the opportunity to go as far as their talents can take them”.

Mrs Leadsom gave her backing to Mr Johnson on Tuesday morning, telling LBC he was the “best placed to get us out of the EU at the end of October” and an “election winner”.

Meanwhile, Mr Gove, who came third in the first ballot with 37 votes, used a Times article to say the final two candidates should “believe in Brexit” and be able to deliver it and unite the Tory party.

In an apparent reference to Mr Johnson and Mr Stewart, he said: “It would be a mistake to put forward two candidates to the final round who will polarise our party.” </s> The revelation was made by LBC radio’s political commentator Theo Usherwood on Nigel Farage’s LBC show just minutes after Rory Stewart was dropped from the competition in a shock twist. Mr Usherwood said: “Team Boris wants to get rid of Michael Gove. And I think we could see that move tomorrow lunchtime.

“This is where tactical voting is going to start in earnest. “So they already got rid of one that they wanted to get rid of which was Rory Stewart. “They now need to target Gove. “And given the numbers involved it doesn’t require that much of a shift given that we can expect some of the Rory Stewart voters to go to Sajid Javid and others will go to Jeremy Hunt.

“We could easily expect it would take seven or eight Boris Johnson supporters to simply go and tick the box for Sajid Javid, with the uplift from a few of Rory Stewart’s supporters. “And he could supplant Michael Gove tomorrow lunchtime in third place. “And if that happens that will be a victory for Boris.

Rory Stewart's hopes of becoming the next prime minister were dashed after his support collapsed in the third round of voting by Tory MPs. The International Development Secretary secured just 27 votes - down 10 from Tuesday's second ballot - as Boris Johnson again took a commanding lead in the race to Number 10. Former foreign secretary Mr Johnson appears assured of being one of the two candidates who will face a vote by 160,000 Tory members to choose the next party leader and prime minister after extending his lead over nearest rival Jeremy Hunt. Mr Johnson received 143 votes, up from 126 on Tuesday, with Mr Hunt on 54, up from 46. Michael Gove was in third place, up 10 from 41 to 51 votes, while Sajid Javid picked up five extra votes to reach 38. </s> Sajid Javid has become the latest candidate to exit the Conservative party leadership race, with the home secretary coming last in the fourth round of voting by Tory MPs, behind Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt.

With all 313 MPs again casting votes, Mr Johnson was once more the clear winner, on 157 votes, with Mr Gove overtaking Nr Hunt into second place, with 61 votes to 59. Mr Javid was fourth on 34 votes. Two ballots were spoiled.

The focus now shifts to a fifth and final round of votes, in which the final two will be selected, who will be put to a vote of Conservative party members. In effect, this will be a run-off between Mr Gove and Mr Hunt for the right to face Mr Johnson. The result will come at 6pm.

The final two will then undertake a long series of hustings events with party members around the country before the winner takes over from Theresa May as Tory leader and prime minister on July 22nd.

The result is something of a blow for Mr Hunt, with backers of the foreign secretary seeking to immediately rally support for him. Penny Mordaunt, the defence secretary, said Mr Hunt being in the final two would avoid the drama of a new showdown between Mr Johnson and Mr Gove, who fell out over the 2016 leadership battle.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean the best entertainment for journalists, but for people who are going to focus on the issues, the policies, and set out a vision for the party,” she said.

A source in the Hunt camp said: “Boris and Michael are great candidates but we have seen their personal psychodrama before: it’s time to offer the country someone the EU will actually talk to.”

One of the challenges for Mr Johnson will be to convince Tory members he is serious about making Brexit happen on October 31st.

On Thursday Mr Johnson was formally endorsed by London’s Evening Standard, edited by the remain-backing former chancellor George Osborne, with an editorial in the newspaper predicting that Mr Johnson would end up persuading the Commons to “vote for a repacked version of the existing deal”.

In a verdict unlikely to go down well among hard Brexiters – or Mr Johnson’s camp – the editorial noted that he had pointedly not completely guaranteed an exit on October 31st, and was the candidate with the most room to manoeuvre.

Theresa May is travelling to Brussels for a European council summit and will miss the second vote. She has entrusted a proxy vote to Charles Walker, the acting co-chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories, which is organising the contest.

During the two-hour voting process, Mr Javid arrived with a series of MPs who have supported him and they posed for a photo in the corridor near committee room 14, where the voting took place. Mr Javid told reporters only that he was “hopeful” of progressing.

His exit from the race follows that of Rory Stewart, the international development minister, in the third round of voting on Wednesday. – Guardian </s> COMBO FILE – In this file four-photo combo image of various recent dates, showing the contenders still placed to become leader of the Conservative Party, Wednesday June 19, 2019, with from left: Michael Gove, Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Sajid Javid. Rory Stewart has dropped out of the contest Wednesday. Britain’s Conservative Party will continue to hold elimination votes until the final two contenders will be put to a vote of party members nationwide, with the winner due to replace Prime Minister Theresa May as party leader and prime minister. (AP FILE Photo combo)

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s next prime minister will be a man in his 50s who went to Oxford University — either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt, the two finalists selected Thursday in a race to lead the governing Conservative Party.

Johnson , a flamboyant former foreign secretary and ex-mayor of London, topped a ballot of 313 Conservative lawmakers with 160 votes and is runaway favorite to become the party’s next leader. He has led in all five voting rounds of a contest that began last week with 10 contenders.

Hunt , Britain’s current foreign secretary, came a distant second with 77 votes and will join Johnson in a runoff decided by 160,000 party members across Britain.

Johnson tweeted that he was honored to have gotten more than half the votes cast by party lawmakers. He said “I look forward to getting out across the U.K. and to set out my plan to deliver Brexit, unite our country, and create a brighter future for all of us.”

Hunt said on Twitter that he knew he was the underdog “but in politics surprises happen.”

The winner of the runoff, due to be announced the week of July 22, will become the new Conservative leader and the country’s next prime minister, replacing Theresa May.

Hunt edged out Environment Secretary Michael Gove, who got 75 votes, after Home Secretary Sajid Javid was eliminated earlier Thursday.

The result spares Johnson a showdown with Gove, his former ally-turned-archrival. The two men jointly led the “leave” campaign in Britain’s 2016 EU membership referendum, but Gove scuttled Johnson’s subsequent bid to become prime minister by deciding to run for the job himself, in a race ultimately won by May.

This time around, many in the party doubt that anyone can beat 55-year-old Johnson, a quick-witted, Latin-spouting extrovert admired for his ability to connect with voters, but mistrusted for his erratic performance in high office and his long record of inaccurate, misleading and sometimes offensive comments.

“Boris will say absolutely anything in order to please an audience,” historian Max Hastings told the BBC on Thursday. “Boris would have told the passengers on the Titanic that rescue was imminent.”

Hunt, who has been culture secretary and health secretary, is considered an experienced, competent minister, but unexciting. The 52-year-old politician bills himself as the “serious” candidate, in an implicit contrast to Johnson. He will try to halt Johnson’s momentum by picking away at his rival’s plans for Brexit as the two speak to party members at meetings across the country over the next few weeks.

Both Johnson and Hunt vow they will lead Britain out of the European Union, a challenge that defeated May. She quit as Conservative leader earlier this month after failing to win Parliament’s backing for her Brexit deal.

Brexit, originally scheduled to take place on March 29, has been postponed twice amid political deadlock in London.

Johnson has won backing from the party’s die-hard Brexiteers by insisting the U.K. must leave the bloc on the rescheduled date of Oct. 31, with or without a divorce deal to smooth the way.

He also is supported — somewhat paradoxically — by some Tory moderates who claim Johnson has the skills to unite the party and win back voters from rival parties on both the left and the right.

“The essence of Boris Johnson is a unifier,” he said.

Hunt backed the losing “remain” side in the referendum, a disadvantage in a party whose rank-and-file members are overwhelmingly pro-Brexit. Hunt now insists he is determined to go through with Brexit and says his past in business, running an educational publishing firm, gives him the experience to negotiate with the EU.

Hunt says he would seek another postponement of Brexit if that is needed to secure a deal, but only for a short time.

Critics say neither candidate has a realistic plan. The EU is adamant that it won’t reopen the Brexit agreement it struck with May’s government, which has been rejected three times by Britain’s Parliament.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Thursday that “the withdrawal agreement is not going to be reopened.”

He also said there was “enormous hostility to any further extension” of the Brexit deadline among the other 27 EU leaders.

Many economists and businesses warn that leaving the EU without a deal on divorce terms and future relations would cause economic turmoil as tariffs and other disruptions are imposed on trade between Britain and the EU.

U.K. Treasury chief Philip Hammond warned that a no-deal Brexit would put Britain’s prosperity at risk and leave the economy “permanently smaller.”

“The question to the candidates is not ‘What is your plan?’ but ‘What is your Plan B?'” Hammond said in extracts from a speech he was giving Thursday night.

Follow AP’s full coverage of Brexit and the Conservative Party leadership race at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit </s> British Conservative party leadership and prime minister contender Boris Johnson leaves his home in south London, Thursday June 20, 2019. The race to become Britain’s next prime minister is down to the final four on Wednesday, as Boris Johnson stretched his lead among Conservative lawmakers and upstart Rory Stewart was eliminated from the contest. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

LONDON (AP) — The Latest on choosing Britain’s next prime minister (all times local):

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt will compete to become Britain’s next prime minister in a runoff vote by members of the governing Conservative Party.

Johnson, a former U.K. foreign secretary, and Hunt, who holds that office now, are the last candidates standing after a series of elimination votes by Conservative lawmakers. Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Environment Secretary Michael Gove were culled from the race on Thursday.

Johnson got 160 of the votes cast by 313 Tory lawmakers in the final round, and is strong favorite to win the ballot of some 160,000 party members.

Hunt, who got 77 votes, will seek to halt Johnson’s momentum by picking away at Johnson’s plans for Brexit as the two speak to meetings of party members across the country.

The winner is due to be announced in late July, and will replace Theresa May as party leader and prime minister.

The contest to become Britain’s next prime minister is down to its final three candidates, with Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt chasing front-runner Boris Johnson for a spot in a deciding runoff.

Johnson gained 157 of 313 votes cast by Conservative lawmakers Thursday in their fourth round of voting. Gove received 61, leapfrogging Hunt, who has been in second place until now but got 59.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid came fourth with 34 votes and drops out.

A second vote Thursday will select the final two contenders, who will go to a by-mail ballot of all 160,000 Conservative Party members nationwide.

The winner is due to be announced in late July, and will replace Theresa May as party leader and prime minister.

Britain’s governing Conservatives were set to pick two candidates who will square off to become the country’s next prime minister.

Tory lawmakers will vote to eliminate two contenders from a four-strong field that includes ex-foreign minister and London mayor Boris Johnson, current Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Home Secretary Sajid Javid.

Johnson has a commanding lead after three rounds of voting that cut the list from an initial 10 contenders. The three others are battling to join him in a runoff to be decided by 160,000 Conservative Party members nationwide.

All the candidates are vowing to lead Britain out of the European Union, a challenge that defeated outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May. She quit as Conservative leader earlier this month after failing to win Parliament’s backing for her Brexit deal.

The winner of the contest, due to be announced the week of July 22, will become Conservative leader and prime minister.

Follow AP’s full coverage of Brexit and the Conservative Party leadership race at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit </s> Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt will battle to become the next Prime Minister after Michael Gove was eliminated from the Tory leadership contest.

In the final round of voting by MPs Mr Gove was narrowly pipped to the post by Mr Hunt, who won two votes more than his rival and his place on the final ballot with Mr Johnson.

The race now enters its final stage before the party selects who will be its next leader and the country’s next Prime Minister.

What has happened so far?

The race to select the next Prime Minister officially launched on 10 June, after Theresa May stood down as Conservative party leader the week earlier.

Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Dominic Raab, Andrea Leadsom, Matt Hancock, Esther McVey, Sajid Javid, Rory Stewart and Mark Harper all accrued enough supporters to be able to enter the race.

Mrs Leadsom, Ms McVey and Mr Harper were eliminated in the first ballot after failing to win enough support to meet the threshold required.

And Matt Hancock, who came sixth in the first vote, announced he was standing down and backing Mr Johnson.

In the second ballot, Mr Raab became the next candidate to be eliminated and he also threw his weight behind Mr Johnson.

On Wednesday, International Development Secretary Rory Stewart scored the lowest number of votes in the third ballot and was also knocked out the race.

And Sajid Javid, Home Secretary, became the seventh candidate to exit the contest after winning the fewest votes in the Thursday lunchtime ballot.

What happens now?

Now that there are only two contenders remaining, Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) will begin the membership hustings process for party members to decide between the final two candidates.

Work will be under way immediately and the party will aim for the hustings to take place in all 12 regions of the UK over the course of the next four weeks.

During this time there are more live TV debates planned on BBC and Sky.

The BBC announced plans to hold a Question Time special with Fiona Bruce as well as a one-to-one interview with the final candidates and presenter Andrew Neil.

Sky News also announced plans for a head-to-head leadership debate between the final two in front of an audience of Conservative Party members.

When will we know who is Prime Minister?

During the month of hustings, in which the candidates will seek to persuade party members to back them, the choice will be put to a postal ballot.

This will mean that the entire party membership of 160,000 people will have a vote to decide which candidate they prefer.

The results will be counted and a new leader will be announced during the week beginning 22 July.

After this point, the victor will visit the Queen, who will ask them to form a Government and will formally replace Mrs May as Prime Minister. </s> Boris Johnson's supporters are plotting to 'humiliate' Michael Gove and derail his leadership campaign today.

Mr Gove has never been forgiven for betraying Mr Johnson in the 2016 leadership contest.

And now MPs loyal to Mr Johnson are plotting the environment secretary's downfall, with one Johnson supporter saying they want him 'humiliated,' as reported by The Telegraph.

It comes as Bojo's team have also approached Sajid Javid - who came fourth in the ballot yesterday - to become chancellor, according to allies of the home secretary.

Yesterday, maverick leadership hopeful Rory Stewart was dramatically booted from the contest after coming last with just 27 votes - down from 37 on Monday - leaving four hopefuls left to fight it out.

Mr Johnson picked up support from Dominic Raab, who was evicted in the previous round, to increase his tally again from 126 to 143 - tightening his grip on the keys to Downing Street.

While Hunt came second with 54 votes, Gove came third with 51, and Javid on 38.

Finishing a disappointing fourth, Mr Javid insisted last night he was still in the race to become Prime Minister.

But Mr Johnson's team have already approached the home secretary and offered 'all sorts of jobs up to that of chancellor', if he drops out the race and backs Boris, as reported by The Times.

The remaining candidates not named Johnson are now desperately vying for Rory Stewart's backers, with pressure being put on them to support Mr Hunt to leave Mr Gove isolated.

Johnson supporters are thought to believe that facing Mr Hunt in the final two would be easier than taking on Mr Gove.

Many of Johnson's team have a 'visceral hatred' for the environment secretary and were directly accused by Mr Stewart of dirty tricks yesterday.

Speaking ahead of the vote, he told reporters the former defence secretary Gavin Williamson, who is organising Mr Johnson's campaign, was encouraging Johnson-supporting MPs to lend their votes to other candidates to manipulate the contest in a bid to determine who he would face in the final run-off.

He told reporters: 'There's also the dark arts. Gavin Williamson's proxy votes, which we don't know about.

'There are dark arts in politics and they're done with proxy votes, they're not done with someone saying 'would you please vote for this person'.'

Some Tory MPs last night said they suspected the Johnson camp of lending support to Mr Stewart in Tuesday's vote in order to get rid of Brexiteer rival Dominic Raab. </s> The Latest: UK prime minister pool cut to 4, Johnson at top

LONDON (AP) — The Latest on Conservative Party voting to pick Britain's next prime minister (all times local):

The contest to become Britain's next prime minister is down to four candidates, with Boris Johnson building on his commanding lead in a Conservative Party vote.

Johnson gained 143 of 313 votes cast by Conservative lawmakers Wednesday in their third round of voting.

He's being chased by Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Home Secretary Sajid Javid.

International Development Secretary Rory Stewart, a longshot candidate who energized the race, received the fewest votes and drops out.

Two more votes are scheduled for Thursday to whittle the field down to two. The final two contenders will go to a by-mail ballot of all 160,000 Conservative Party members nationwide.

The winner is due to be announced in late July, and will replace Theresa May as party leader and prime minister.

Britain's Conservative Party is set to kick one more candidate out of the contest to become the country's next prime minister, as rivals scramble to catch front-runner Boris Johnson.

The five-strong field will be narrowed in elimination votes by Tory lawmakers Wednesday and Thursday, with the two top candidates going to a runoff of party members across the country.

One of the remaining candidates, International Development Secretary Rory Stewart, says he is talking to Environment Secretary Michael Gove about combining forces. He says the question is "who is best able to politely and respectfully defeat Boris Johnson."

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Home Secretary Sajid Javid are also in the race.

The winner, due to be announced in late July, will replace Theresa May as Conservative leader and prime minister.

Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit and the Conservative Party leadership race at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
Home Secretary Sajid Javid is eliminated after coming in fourth place in the fourth round of voting. Boris Johnson remains the front runner, with Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt coming in second and third place respectively.