8 candidates advance to next round of Tory leadership race

Britain's ruling Conservative Party on Tuesday announced that eight candidates have made it through the first round of voting.

The candidates included former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt, head of the foreign affairs select committee Tom Tugendhat, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Attorney General Suella Braverman, former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, former Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch, and current Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi.

Nominations opened at 12:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday and closed at 6:00 p.m. Candidates needed the backing of 20 MPs to pass this round.

They will need the backing of 30 MPs on Wednesday in the second round.

After that, the remaining candidates will face a series of rounds of voting until only two candidates remain; the process could take until the end of next week.

Once two candidates remain, the Conservative Party's 160,000 members will choose between them, with the result to be announced on Sept. 5.

The winner will become the leader of the Conservative Party and take over from Boris Johnson as British prime minister.

Johnson has refused to back any candidate, saying he did not want to damage anyone's chances.

Britain's main opposition Labour Party attempted to force a vote of no confidence in the government after Johnson decided to remain in post until the election of a new leader, rather than step down immediately.

The government refused to allow the vote, which would have triggered a general election to take place, saying that Johnson had already resigned as party leader and that a leadership race was already underway.