Tory tribes and ‘backroom deals’: how the final leadership candidates were chosen
Shortlist in the race to replace Boris Johnson is whittled down to two

There have been claims of “dirty tricks and backroom deals”, with MPs voting against their tribal instincts, as the Tory parliamentary party whittled down its leadership shortlist to two finalists.
Penny Mordaunt was eliminated this afternoon, leaving Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to go head to head to win over grassroots members over the summer.
It has been the “many incongruous aspects to this election” that made the rounds of voting “so hard to predict”, said Oliver Wright, policy editor for The Times.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Changing allegiances
MPs have had “an array of different and often conflicting motivations in deciding who to back” and then who to support when their first choice candidate fell short, said Wright. “Brexiteers are backing former remainers,” he wrote, while “centrists are backing candidates of the right”.
For example, when the “right-wing Brexit purity candidate” Suella Braverman left the race last Thursday she urged her supporters to back Truss, but instead they “fractured three ways” with Sunak apparently gathering the most votes, followed by Kemi Badenoch, with Truss picking up only seven votes.
Backroom deals
The Telegraph said there was “bafflement” after half of the votes for Tom Tugendhat, who was knocked out in the third round of voting on Monday, appeared to have gone to Truss in Tuesday’s vote.
With many of Tugendhat’s supporters thought to be in the “anyone but Liz” camp, one MP said: “There is vote-rigging going on. There is no way that Truss picked up 15 votes from Tom Tugendhat. Someone is moving votes around.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Tuesday tallies “set off a whole new wave of claims about dirty tricks and backroom deals”, said Politico's London Playbook.
Among the theories was that Sunak lent votes to the foreign secretary to give her momentum and keep Mordaunt at bay, or that Truss had previously lent votes to Sunak and called them back to give herself a “late boost”, said the site.
It was also speculated that “rogue elements” of Sunak’s campaign voted tactically for Truss.
Meanwhile, a Sunak campaign source told The Times that MPs were “thinking who they could live with and backing them to move them into second place rather than vote for Rishi”.
The Daily Mail said Tory MP Steve Baker, a Truss supporter, believed individual MPs were “occasionally voting tactically – which they are entitled to do”, while another Conservative MP said there had been a “concerted effort” to “try to make sure that Rishi doesn’t face Liz in the final”.
Rishi’s reallocations
Former cabinet minister David Davis, who had backed Mordaunt, claimed the opposite was true: that Sunak was helping Truss in order to knock Mordaunt out of the running.
“There’s clearly been some transfer of votes, presumably from Rishi to Liz,” he told LBC. “Rishi just reallocated some. He’s got his four or five chief whips that he has in a boiler room to reallocate them. He wants to fight Liz because she’s the person who will lose the debate with him.”
However, personal career ambitions were also at play, said Katy Balls, deputy political editor at The Spectator. “Those MPs looking for promotion – of which they are many” would have noted a recent YouGov polling of the membership that suggested Truss was well placed to beat both Sunak and Mordaunt in a final two run-off, she wrote for The i.
-
‘How can I know these words originated in their heart and not some data center in northern Virginia?’
instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Can Trump deliver a farmer bailout in time?
Today's Big Question Planting decisions and food prices hang in the balance
-
Tips for seizing control of your digital well-being
The Week Recommends A handy mix of technology and self-motivation
-
The new age of book banning
The Explainer How America’s culture wars collided with parents and legislators who want to keep their kids away from ‘dangerous’ ideas
-
Taking the low road: why the SNP is still standing strong
Talking Point Party is on track for a fifth consecutive victory in May’s Holyrood election, despite controversies and plummeting support
-
Five policies from the Tory conference
In Depth Party leader Kemi Badenoch has laid out the Conservative plan for a potential future government
-
Charlie Kirk honored as ‘martyr’ at memorial rally
Speed Read At a service for the slain conservative activist, speakers included President Donald Trump and many top administration officials
-
Can the Lib Dems be a party of government again?
Today's Big Question Leader Ed Davey is urged to drop the stunts and present a serious plan for the country
-
What difference will the 'historic' UK-Germany treaty make?
Today's Big Question Europe's two biggest economies sign first treaty since WWII, underscoring 'triangle alliance' with France amid growing Russian threat and US distance
-
Is the G7 still relevant?
Talking Point Donald Trump's early departure cast a shadow over this week's meeting of the world's major democracies
-
'Gen Z has been priced out of a future, so we invest in the present'
instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day