Robert Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch will become the next Conservative Party leader on November 2 after Bookies/ favourite James Cleverly was shockingly booted from the race to replace Rishi Sunak yesterday.
MPs cast their ballots for their preferred candidate on Wednesday afternoon.
Audible gasps were heard in the chamber as the result confirmed Cleverly received just 37 votes, compared to Badenoch and Jenrick’s 42 and 41 respectively.
Although Cleverly was well-positioned going into the ballot today, Tom Tugendhat’s 20 voters from yesterday appeared to favour the two right-leaning candidates rather than the more centrist shadow Home Secretary.
One Tory MP said they were now getting messages from local members saying “what the hell are you doing?” after two candidates from the right got on to the final ballot.
The MP said: “One of two things has happened. Either a number of people lent James Cleverly their votes yesterday and rolled them back.
“Or James Cleverly’s lent votes to Robert Jenrick and over-egged it.”
An online ballot of the final two candidates will now be held between tomorrow and October 31 with a result expected on November 2.
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