Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, topped the poll in the first round of voting in the Tory leadership contest with 88 votes, followed by the junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt and foreign secretary Liz Truss with 67 and 50 respectively.

Then came former equalities minister, Kemi Badenoch, with 40, and Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee with 37, while Suella Braverman, the attorney general who is of Goan origin, received 32.

Under the rules, the current chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, and the former health and foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, were eliminated as they received 25 and 18 votes respectively – fewer than the 30 needed to stay in the race.

Those who drop out plus their supporters now have to decide who they will back in the next round of voting.

Ahead of the first round of voting on Wednesday, the right wing of the Conservative party launched a campaign to “stop Rishi at any cost”.

One of the leading lights of the right, Jacob Rees-Mogg, whose late father was once editor of The Times, did not deny calling Sunak “a socialist chancellor” because of the latter’s decision to raise some taxes to balance the books.

Rees-Mogg, known for his eccentric mannerisms, has served under Boris Johnson as leader of the Commons and is now the cabinet minister for “Brexit opportunities”.

He said he would not serve in a Sunak government: “No, of course, I wouldn’t. I believe his behaviour towards Boris Johnson, his disloyalty, means that I could not possibly support him and he wouldn’t want me in his cabinet anyway.”

The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail appear to have lined up behind Penny Mordaunt, a junior trade minister, and Liz Truss, the foreign secretary.

Another member of the Right-wing, culture secretary Nadine Dorris, accused the Sunak team of engaging in “dirty tricks”. She alleged MPs supporting Sunak had “lent” their votes to Jeremy Hunt, a former foreign and health secretary, to get him through the early rounds of voting because apparently he would easier to beat in the run-off than either Mordaunt or Truss.

Dorris tweeted: “This is dirty tricks/a stitch up/dark arts. Take your pick. Team Rishi want the candidate they know they can definitely beat in the final two and that is Jeremy Hunt.”

Boris, who apparently feels badly let down by Sunak, has said he will not endorse any candidate.

He joked: “I wouldn’t want to damage anyone’s chances with my support.”

The Financial Times has run a story headlined, “Boris Johnson allies accuse Rishi Sunak of treachery,” which said: “Close allies of Johnson said there was ‘huge anger’ in Downing Street over Sunak’s resignation. One senior Number 10 official called Sunak ‘a treacherous bastard.’

“A cabinet minister loyal to Johnson said his allies would try to ensure Sunak did not win the leadership contest. ‘Rishi will get everything he deserves for leading the charge in bringing down the prime minister,’ he said.”

On Tuesday when Sunak formally launched his campaign he went out of his way to pay tribute to the prime minister.