Tom Tugendhat was eliminated from the Tory leadership contest yesterday in the third round of voting by Conservative MPs. James Cleverly, who was joint fourth with Tugendhat in the previous round, surged into first place with 39 of the 120 votes, overtaking Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch.
Previous front-runner Jenrick dropped to second place after an "underwhelming" party conference performance, said The Guardian. Cleverly gave a better speech, delivering an "upbeat message" while emphasising "his experience in office", said the Financial Times.
But Cleverly's rival campaigners are confident that Badenoch and Jenrick will be more popular with the party membership. "Dogs bark, cats meow, Tory members support the right-wing candidate," a source told the newspaper.
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Another contender will be eliminated in a vote today, before the final two are put on a members' ballot. The result will be announced on 2 November.
Robert Jenrick
The former immigration minister began strongly, leading in the opening round of voting before slipping behind in the latest results. Jenrick is a "right-wing champion" who has put "migration, the economy and policing" at the forefront of his campaign to become Tory leader, said London's The Standard.
The 42-year-old MP for Newark in Nottinghamshire has served in various secretary of state and ministerial roles since 2018, but resigned from his last post in December 2023 over disagreements around Rishi Sunak's immigration bill.
Jenrick is now the outsider to become the next Tory leader, according to the bookies, sitting at 7/2.
James Cleverly
The last Conservative home secretary is now the frontrunner in the leadership contest with odds of 11/10. The most moderate of the remaining candidates, Cleverly is seen as a "unifying, Michael Howard-type figure" by some Tory quarters and the best chance of bringing a splintered party back together, said The Guardian.
His critics argue he lacks the "political vision or serious solutions" to be leader, yet he is proving popular with his "well-pitched speeches". The 55-year-old does have a "propensity for gaffes", however, including having to apologise for making a joke about spiking his wife's drink with Rohypnol.
Cleverly says he will bring back the previous government's Rwanda immigration plan if he becomes leader, despite allegedly having described it in private as "batshit".
Kemi Badenoch
After becoming an MP in 2017, Badenoch was fairly quickly tipped as a future leadership candidate after attracting support through her "direct approach and dedication to 'anti-woke' principles", said the BBC.
Despite failing in her bid to replace Boris Johnson in 2022 (though she survived in the contest much longer than expected), the 44-year-old is now second favourite to assume leadership of the opposition at 6/4 odds.
The former banker has gathered supporters by trying to appeal to people who “may have been tempted to vote for Reform UK", said The Standard. But she has also been caught in controversies, including accusations of bullying (which she denied), posting emails from a journalist on X, and getting caught in a row over maternity pay.
