Rightwinger Robert Jenrick unleashed a claim of “horse-trading” against his rivals’ camps as he fought to avoid being dumped out of the Tory leadership race.
The former immigration minister made the allegation as his campaign appeared to have lost momentum in the penultimate round of voting by MPs on Tuesday which saw Tom Tugendhat knocked out of the contest.
Former Home Secretary James Cleverly looks all but assured of being one of the final two candidates after coming top of Tuesday’s third round ballot with 39 votes, nearly doubling his tally in the previous round.
Just one vote separates Mr Jenrick and Ms Badenoch, on 31 and 30 votes respectively, but she was up two and he was down two compared to the second round which saw former Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride knocked out.
So, it appeared to be a straight battle between Mr Jenrick and former Trade Secretary Ms Badenoch to join Mr Cleverly on the shortlist of two contenders to be put to a vote of party members.
Asked why Mr Cleverly had got a surge in votes, Mr Jenrick told Sky News: “There is always horse-trading in the final stages.
“I have been around long enough to know that in the last few votes in these leadership contests there is always people moving around, votes and so on...”
The “horse-trading” allegation suggests one camp has lent votes to another camp to keep out a third candidate.
Pressed on whether he was suggesting Ms Badenoch’s camp was giving votes to Mr Cleverly to stop him (Mr Jenrick) getting into the final two on the shortlist to go to party members, he added: “I don’t know...”
But he admitted that Mr Cleverly was set to make the shortlist, given that 41 votes guarantees a place on it and he was only two short of that on Tuesday.
“It looks pretty clear that James is going to be in the final, that’s just the arithmetic,” said Mr Jenrick.
“So it’s a simple question for my parliamentary colleagues.
“Who do you think should be alongside James.
“Should it be Kemi or myself, obviously I’m making the case that I’m best placed to win the contest but more importantly than that it’s not about the party it’s about the country..who is the best placed to address seriously the big challenges facing our country.”
Wednesday’s result will almost certinly hinge on how the 20 MPs who backed eliminated candidate Mr Tugendhat decide to vote.
One of Mr Tugendhat’s backers, Nick Timothy, a former adviser to ex-prime minister Theresa May, has already announced his support for Mr Jenrick, saying he had shown a willingness to “be unsparing in its analysis of why we lost and what we must do next”.
But far more MPs are keeping silent about who they will support.
The result of Wednesday’s vote is expected to be announced at about 3.30pm.
Conservative Party members will then have to choose between the final two candidates, and the new party leader will be announced on November 2.
