The five men competing to be Britain's next prime minister were taking part in a televised debate Tuesday evening where they traded barbs about who will get Britain out of the European Union fastest.

The debate came just hours after the latest Conservative Party ballot put Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson ahead of his rivals in the race to replace Theresa May.

Johnson said during the debate that if Brexit doesn't happen on the scheduled date of Oct. 31, there would be a "catastrophic loss of confidence in politics."

Both Johnson and Javid said they would opt to leave the EU without an agreement if Parliament hadn't ratified a divorce deal by then.

Gove said a no-deal Brexit would cause "economic turbulence," but he wouldn't rule it out. Hunt said "it should only be a very, very last resort."

Gove and Hunt both said they'd delay Brexit for a short time if needed to secure a deal.

Stewart, said "there would never be no-deal" if he were prime minister, because it would be too damaging to the economy.

The five go through to a third ballot on Wednesday, as the candidates are whittled down until the top two vote-getters remain, at a date no later than June 22.

Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab's campaign ended after he failed to reach the threshold of 33 votes needed to go on to the next round..

The second-round results, including in comparison to the first round, were as follows:

Former foreign secretary and London mayor Boris Johnson, 126 votes (+12).

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, 46 votes (+3).

Environment Secretary Michael Gove, 41 votes (+5).

International Development Secretary Rory Stewart, 37 votes (+18).

Home Secretary: Sajid Javid, 33 votes (+10).

Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, 30 votes (+3)

The biggest gainer was Stewart, who had the fewest votes of the six who met the previous round's threshold.

Barring a major upset, Johnson looks set to be one of the candidates party members will consider when they are mailed a ballot. The mainly pro-Brexit Conservative Party members, some 160,000, will cast the deciding votes in a weeks-long process that will culminate in the announcement of the winner on July 22.

Theresa May repeats the line of last week - “None of your business” - when asked how she voted —@isaby

Johnson skipped the first debate on June 16 and also stayed away from question-and-answer sessions in parliament that the other five candidates attended on Monday.

His rivals have stepped up their calls on Johnson to spell out his plans for Brexit in more detail.

"What I find alarming and I want to try to clarify as soon as possible, hopefully in these debates this evening, is that half the people in his campaign have got the impression that he intends to leave on Oct. 31 with no deal," Stewart told BBC Radio earlier in the day.

"And the other half seem to have got the impression that he's going for the softest of soft Brexits. The only way that we are going to have stability in our government, or our party or our country, is if people trust us."

Endorsements continue for Johnson

Johnson got a fresh boost on Tuesday when another former rival in the race backed him to lead the country out of its Brexit crisis.

"He is the best placed to get us out of the EU at the end of October," Andrea Leadsom, a former leader of the House of Commons who was eliminated from the contest last week, told LBC radio. "Secondly, I do believe he is an election winner."

For 3 years we have been fighting to deliver Brexit, with Remain MPs trying to stop the will of our people. Now Dominic has left the contest I will throw my support 100% behind <a href="https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BorisJohnson</a>. He is the last true Brexiteer standing, who resigned on principle to fight for Brexit. —@andreajenkyns

After the voting on Tuesday, he also received a public nod from euroskeptic MP Andrea Jenykns.

On Monday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who quit the race on Friday, also backed Johnson, despite their contrasting views on Brexit.

Johnson said he will take Britain out of the European Union by Oct. 31 whether or not there is a deal with Brussels to smooth the transition, potentially setting up a fight with parliament.

Sterling fell to its lowest level against the U.S. dollar in nearly six months as investors worried about the prospect of a big Brexit shock to the world's fifth-biggest economy.

This combination photo made up of file photos, showed the remaining six contenders heading into Tuesday's vote. Top from left: Michael Gove, Dominic Raab, Jeremy Hunt, and bottom from left: Sajid Javid, Boris Johnson, Rory Stewart. (File/Associated Press)

A Bank of England policymaker said he was worried about the risk of capital flight which had grown since the Brexit referendum three years ago.

"Right now, the stock of foreign funding is potentially more flighty than it was in 2016," Anil Kashyap, a member of the BoE's financial policy committee, told legislators.

Analysts have also said the scale of promises for more spending or tax cuts by many leadership contenders threaten to break Britain's existing budget targets.

Johnson has promised to cut income tax for high earners while Hunt says he would slash corporation tax. Gove suggests replacing Value Added Tax with a "lower, simpler" sales tax.