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Louise Thomas
Editor
Conservative MPs have pivoted to the right in, ditching centrist candidate James Cleverly in the race to succeed Rishi Sunak.
The former home secretary was knocked out of the race on Wednesday afternoon, leaving Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch to face a vote of the party membership in November.
Ms Badenoch and Mr Jenrick are both seen as candidates favoured by the right of the Conservative Party, while Mr Cleverly was thought of as a more centre-ground Tory.
This comes despite Mr Cleverly – who was the bookmakers’ favourite to win the contest – surging into first place at Tuesday’s ballot, securing the support of 39 MPs.
Many watchers expected him to battle it out with one of his more right wing rivals in the final head-to-head.
But in today’s ballot, he lost two votes taking him to 37. Ms Badenoch secured 42 votes, while Mr Jenrick was one vote behind at 41.
Tom Tugendhat, a former security minister and favourite of the One Nation caucus of Tory MPs, was knocked out on Tuesday after being backed by just 20 votes.
The final two MPs will now face an online ballot of Tory members from 10 to 31 October, with the winner of the contest announced on 2 November.
After Tuesday’s ballot, there was just one vote separating Ms Badenoch and Mr Jenrick, with the two MPs receiving 30 and 31 votes respectively.
Responding to Wednesday’s ballot, Labour Party chair Ellie Reeves said Tory members have the “unenviable task of choosing between two of the architects of Tory failure”.
“Both Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick are central figures in 14 years of hapless leadership and decline, and have already proven they’ve learned nothing from the mistakes that took the Conservative Party to its worst defeat in modern history.
“While the endless bickering continues, Labour is fixing the foundations and sorting out the mess that these two deeply unimpressive figures left behind”, she said.
More to follow…
