Tory leadership vote result - live: Boris Johnson tops poll despite being branded 'racist' and 'not fit for office' as Stewart eliminated

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Conservative leadership bid: Results of third ballot

Rory Stewart was eliminated from the Tory leadership race after the third round of voting by Conservative MPs on Wednesday, as Boris Johnson again topped the ballot with 143 votes.

Jeremy Hunt came second with 54 votes, narrowly ahead of Michael Gove with 51, while Sajid Javid picked up five extra votes to reach 38.

Mr Johnson was earlier called “racist” and “not fit for office” during PMQs by Ian Blackford, the SNP leader in the Commons.

Senior Labour MPs put pressure on leader Jeremy Corbyn to back a second Brexit referendum at a shadow cabinet meeting.

Nigel Farage, meanwhile, claimed the Brexit Party could form an electoral pact with a Johnson-led Conservative Party to deliver a no deal exit.

See how the day unfolded below:

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Key Points

• Rory Stewart eliminated after gaining only 27 votes in third round
• Jeremy Hunt in second place behind Boris Johnson
• Johnson called 'racist' by SNP leader in the Commons
• Nigel Farage says he would form pact with Mr Johnson to deliver no-deal Brexit

[19 June 2019 18:40 · Adam Forrest]

Rory Stewart has said his Tory MPs “weren’t ready” to hear about the dangers of a no deal Brexit. He said he offered his colleagues strong warnings that “probably proved to be truths that people weren’t quite ready to hear”.

“I’m going to keep saying them”, he told BBC News.

The international development secretary also said he appeared to have already “written my cabinet resignation” with his campaign.

Asked if he was deflated, Mr Stewart told Sky News: “No, I’m feeling energised: the reality is you never know what MPs get up to in a secret ballot. They clearly decided that they were going to back a winner and they’re going to go in other directions.”

He said he was surprised that he had lost 10 votes, and did not understand why, adding: “But something in the air must have made them sense that something was going in the other direction.”

Mr Stewart, who would not say who he would now back, added that he was looking forward to seeing his two children, adding: “I’ve been getting up at six in the morning and going to bed at two in the morning.”

[19 June 2019 18:45 · Adam Forrest]

Michael Gove has now responded to the results, saying he hopes he can “make it to the final two in this race” tomorrow. He received four less votes than Jeremy Hunt.

[19 June 2019 18:51 · Adam Forrest]

A spokesman for Sajid Javid was bullish about his chances, saying he had been “underestimated all his life”, and he was not going to be pulling out of the race.

“He’s in it to win it,” he added. “And he’s going to be prime minister.”

On the issue of votes being lent a spokesman for Mr Javid said: “He’s never borrowed anything from anybody in his life.”

[19 June 2019 18:55 · Adam Forrest]

Here’s sketch writer Tom Peck’s take on the demise of “truth teller” Rory Stewart’s push to become prime minister.

[19 June 2019 19:01 · Adam Forrest]

Former foreign secretary David Miliband has had his say on the Tory leadership race. Miliband said Boris Johnson’s Brexit stance is “straight out of never never land”.

Speaking in Edinburgh ahead of giving the annual Fulbright lecture, he criticised the performance of the Conservative candidates in Tuesday’s TV debate, which he said “Jeremy Corbyn won”.

He continued: “What [Boris Johnson's] said about Brexit in the leadership campaign has come straight out of the never never land of Brexiteer fantasy, which is if we shout louder and stamp our foot more we'll get a different answer. I just don’t see that.”

He also questioned on Labour’s position on a second referendum, he said holding a People’s Vote “would be the democratic thing to do.” He added: “The Brexit now on offer is so different, I think it would be undemocratic not to have a second referendum.”