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.
Subscribe to 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.”
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.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Rupert Murdoch's behind-closed-doors succession court battle
The Explainer Media mogul's legal dispute with three of his children over control of his influential empire begins today
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Ruska: experience Finland's magnificent autumn foliage
The Week Recommends The 'fleeting' season lasts just three weeks
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Trump assassination attempt: do former presidents need more protection?
Today's Big Question Secret Service director says 'paradigm shift' needed after second Trump attack sparks calls for more resources
By The Week UK Published
-
Who will be the next Tory leader?
In Depth Race for the leadership will intensify this week as hopefuls face first vote
By The Week UK Last updated
-
Is Britain about to 'boil over'?
Today's Big Question A message shared across far-right groups listed more than 30 potential targets for violence in the UK today
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
UK's Starmer slams 'far-right thuggery' at riots
Speed Read The anti-immigrant violence was spurred by false rumors that the suspect in the Southport knife attack was an immigrant
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The Tamils stranded on 'secretive' British island in Indian Ocean
Under the Radar Migrants 'unlawfully detained' since 2021 shipwreck on UK-controlled Diego Garcia, site of important US military base
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
David Cameron resigns as Sunak names shadow cabinet
Speed Read New foreign secretary joins 12 shadow ministers brought in to fill vacancies after electoral decimation
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Britain's Labour Party wins in a landslide
Speed Read The Conservatives were unseated after 14 years of rule
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The five moments it went wrong for the Tories
In Depth From Partygate to the budget that broke Britain, the pivotal points in the Conservative Party's decline
By Rebecca Messina, The Week UK Published