JAMES Cleverly has been eliminated from the Conservative Party leadership election, in a surprise development despite a strong performance at the party's recent conference.
Former business secretary Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick are now in a head-to-head race which will be decided by the party membership.
In the fourth and final ballot of MPs, Badenoch received 42 votes, Jenrick (below) 41 with Cleverly in last place on 37.
There had been widespread speculation Cleverly would make it to the final two candidates to be put to the membership.
Cleverly had just the day before topped the ballot with 39 of 120, Jenrick on 30 and Badenoch (below) last on 29.
Tom Tugendhat was eliminated in the third round and it had been assumed much of his support would have went for Cleverly, the former home secretary.
One Tory MP told the PA news agency they were now getting messages from local members saying “what the hell are you doing?” after two candidates from the right got onto 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.”
But there was also the possibility of individuals backing their second favourite candidate, assuming their preferred choice was already safe.
The MP said supporters of both Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch had been asking MPs suspected of backing Cleverly to lend support to one of them to get them on the ballot.
The Tory source said they did not “fall for that” but “it’s possible some people may have been dumb enough”.
Responding to his defeat, Cleverly said: "I’m grateful for the support I’ve received on this campaign from colleagues, party members and the public.”
Writing on Twitter/X, he added: “Sadly it wasn’t to be. We are all Conservatives and it’s important the Conservative Party unites to take on this catastrophic Labour Government.”
Labour Party chairwoman Ellie Reeves MP said: “Both Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick are central figures in 14 years of hapless leadership and decline, and have already proven they’ve learned nothing from the mistakes that took the Conservative Party to its worst defeat in modern history."
Both Jenrick and Badenoch are seen as being on the right of the Conservative Party.
Jenrick made a name for himself by quitting his position as an immigration minister last year in protest over the Rwanda scheme because he believed it did not go far enough.
He is in favour of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and much stricter controls on immigration.
Badenoch previously accused her rival of giving "easy answers" by promising to leave the ECHR but is also in favour of reducing migration numbers.
She made a number of controversial comments during the recent Conservative Party conference, including suggesting that maternity pay in the UK was "excessive".
Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday evening, Jenrick said his message to Tory members was "not platitudes".
He added: "The message I delivered was we didn't get everything right when we were in government. There were big issues facing this country that we didn't solve, and we need to be different. I stand for change in this contest and I stand for a clear plan."
Asked whether he believed Tory MPs to be an untrustworthy electorate, Jenrick replied: "Look, these are politicians. But now what I need to do is sell my message of change to the members of the party and most importantly, to the public, because this is not just about the Conservative Party, it's how do we provide effective opposition.”
But Badenoch doubled down on her criticisms of Jenrick's pitch, saying his plan to leave the ECHR "shuts down the conversation we need to have with the entire country".
She said: "What I talked about in my conference speech and when I launched my campaign is we need to talk about everything.
“We need to talk about the system, which I think is broken. I think Labour are having problems because they are working with a broken system.”
She added: “It can’t just be about one little part of immigration policy.
“We need to lower immigration, that’s part of the story, but just talking about the ECHR is going to shut down the conversation that we need to have with the entire country.”
