Who will be first out of the Tory leader race? At least one of six hopefuls will be ejected TODAY as Kemi Badenoch tops ConHome poll of activists _ Hieuuk
The first Tory leadership hopeful will be ejected from the contest today as the battle to replace Rishi Sunak heats up.
MPs will vote this afternoon to whittle down the field, with at least one of the six contenders set to fall when the result comes at 3.30pm.
It should finally give a clear indication of who is best placed to win, with barely half of the 121 politicians still standing after the election rout having publicly declared an allegiance.
The latest poll by the ConservativeHome website has found Kemi Badenoch is favourite among activists, with 34 per cent support compared to 18 per cent for her nearest rival Robert Jenrick.
The latest poll by the ConservativeHome website has found Kemi Badenoch is favourite among activists
There have been claims swirling in Westminster that Mr Jenrick could have stronger backing than many expected
The ConHome panel showed 34 per cent support for Ms Badenoch compared to 18 per cent for her nearest rival Mr Jenrick
However, there have been claims swirling in Westminster that Mr Jenrick could have 60 MPs behind him.
Mel Stride is seen as the most likely to be ousted this afternoon, with Priti Patel, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly the other candidates.
The party’s plan is for four candidates to make their cases to Tory members at the conference at the start of October.
After that, MPs will carry out further rounds of voting to select two final candidates to be put to activists, with the winner announced on November 2.
There has been disquiet over the extended timetable as it means Mr Sunak responding to the Budget on October 30.
Several candidates have officially launched campaigns in recent days as MPs returned to Parliament.
Mrs Badenoch, widely tipped as the bookmakers’ favourite, complained at her event that the Tories ‘talked right but governed left’ and ‘acted like Labour’.
Mr Jenrick has focused his campaign on immigration, with a promise to introduce a binding cap on the number of legal migrants and to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
Tom Tugendhat formally launched his leadership bid yesterday
James Cleverly arriving for his launch with wife Susie on Monday
There has been disquiet over the extended timetable as it means Mr Sunak responding to the Budget on October 30
Former security minister Mr Tugendhat’s pitch is for a reset with the public, based around restoring honesty to politics, while Mr Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, has said his priorities as prime minister would be to boost national security, reduce migration and restore ‘confidence in capitalism’.
Dame Priti promised members she would get the Conservative Party back to its ‘winning ways’ and touted her credentials in cabinet and her work on immigration and policing.
Mr Stride has not held a launch event, but has made frequent appearances speaking to broadcasters during the early weeks of the contest.
