Rory Stewart eliminated from the Conservative leadership contest

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Rory Stewart speaks to the media on College Green in Westminster, London.

LONDON - Rory Stewart has been eliminated from the race to replace Theresa May as prime minister.

He received fewer votes than all of his rivals in a secret ballot on Wednesday afternoon.

Stewart started the race as a little-known outsider and was not seen as a leading candidate in the race.

However, the MP for Penrith and the Border became an unlikely threat to the frontrunners, impressing both Conservative MPs and the British public with his strategy of traveling around the country and speaking to people.

The result means that Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt, and Sajid Javid make up the final four in the contest to become Conservative party leader and the prime minister of the United Kingdom.

Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab was dumped out of the contest on Tuesday.

Here is how Conservative MPs voted on Wednesday:

Boris Johnson: 143

Jeremy Hunt: 54

Michael Gove: 51

Sajid Javid : 38

Rory Stewart: 27

The contest will be whittled down to two by the end of this week before around 160,000 Conservative party members choose the winner in a vote at the end of July.

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