Tory leadership LIVE: Mordaunt faces humiliation as MP support for Sunak soars to 188

Doubts are rising over whether Penny Mordaunt will get the required backing of 100 Tory MPs to make it into the next round of the Conservative leadership contest.

Mr Sunak is maintaining a comfortable lead with almost 200 Tory MPs demanding he take over from Liz Truss.

But team Mordaunt insist she is “closer than people think” as the 2pm deadline approaches.

One of the last undecided Tory MPs, who had backed Boris Johnson, told Express.co.uk that there are grave doubts about Ms Mordaunt.

The MP said there are three problems.

They said: “First, she is not a true Conservative, she is quite lefty and woke with all the trans stuff…

“Second, her team and supporters are all the same faces, she has not done anything to bridge the gap or reach out to new people.

“Third, and most concerning, she has no experience of high office and serious parts of government, she has not performed well in the posts she has held and there is a real chance that she would be a rerun of the Liz Truss disaster.”

A former cabinet minister, who has backed Mr Sunak. added: “The problems with Liz Truss will be tenfold with Penny Mordaunt.”