The Conservative Party leadership contenders have been whittled down to two following a final round of voting by Tory MPs.
Kemi Badenoch will go head-to-head with Robert Jenrick in the race to replace Rishi Sunak after James Cleverly was dramatically eliminated on Wednesday.
Shadow Home Secretary Mr Cleverly had surged ahead to become the bookmakers’ favourite after he won the third ballot of Tory MPs on Tuesday and had urged party members to be “more normal” at the Conservative conference last week.
But he was knocked out in the fourth and final round securing the support of just 37 colleagues, compared to former immigration minister Robert Jenrick with 41 and shadow housing secretary Kemi Badenoch with 42.
The two final candidates will now make their cases to the Tory party membership who will vote for the new leader. The winner is due to be announced on November 2.
Here’s what you need to know about the final two candidates.
Robert Jenrick
The right-leaning former immigration minister, 42, resigned from his frontbench job over the previous government’s Rwanda scheme, stating it was not strong enough. He was seen as one of the favourites and has said the Conservative Party is the “natural home for Reform voters”.
He came out on top in the first rounds of MP voting, but was overtaken by Mr Cleverly in the ballot after the Tory Party Conference.
However, a scandal involving an east London housing scheme may return to haunt his bid. In 2020, it emerged that then-housing secretary Mr Jenrick had intervened to approve billionaire Richard Desmond’s Westferry Printworks development on the Isle of Dogs after the pair had sat next to each other at a Tory fundraising dinner.
Documents later suggested Mr Jenrick had taken a particular interest in the plans. Officials said he was “insistent” that it be approved before a local council charge worth about £40 million was imposed. Mr Johnson later sacked him in a Cabinet reshuffle.
Kemi Badenoch
The combative former business secretary and darling of the Tory right, 44, is also one of the favourites to succeed Mr Sunak.
Some have suggested the leadership contest has always been a two-horse race between Ms Badenoch and Mr Jenrick.
While she came fourth in the Conservative leadership contest to replace Mr Johnson in July 2022, Ms Badenoch has continued to carve a name for herself in top Tory circles.
When she formally launched her campaign, Ms Badenoch said the former Tory government “talked right but governed left, sounding like Conservatives but acting like Labour.”
Ms Badenoch is prone to ruffling feathers. At the Conservative Party Conference she made headlines for suggesting one in ten civil servants should be arrested for being terrible at their jobs and describing maternity pay as “excessive”.
One senior Tory MP told the Standard that Ms Badenoch could be an exciting leader, but some were concerned about her imploding. “We know she’s Mrs T,” they said. “We just haven’t worked out if that’s Thatcher or Truss.”
Who didn’t make it?
Priti Patel
Ex home secretary Dame Priti Patel was knocked out of the Conservative leadership contest in the first round of voting after winning the support of just 14 MPs.
In a message to her supporters Dame Priti said “we must ensure the membership has a greater role in the running of our party”.
She has not endorsed any of the other candidates.
Mel Stride
At the 2024 general election, Mr Stride, 62, retained his Central Devon seat by just 61 votes over Labour. The shadow work and pensions secretary said “a number of colleagues” had urged him to launch a Conservative leadership bid, saying his party had "substantially lost the trust of the British people" and its "reputation for competence".
He’s also warned the party it faces a “painstaking” battle to win over young voters and argued against “ideological labels” when pressed on whether he would seek to prevent a rightward shift in the party.
Mr Stride was the second contender to be knocked out. He has backed Mr Cleverly in the race.
Tom Tugendhat
The ex-security minister and former soldier, 51, is a favourite of the party’s centrist One Nation caucus and was backed by some MPs worried about the Tories lurching significantly to the right.
However, he began his campaign by suggesting he was open to leaving the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and was forced to defend previously backing Liz Truss for prime minister.
More recently, he’s pledged to reduce the UK’s annual net migration cap of 100,000 if he became party leader.
He stood to replace Boris Johnson in 2022 but was eliminated in the third round of parliamentary voting.
Mr Tugendhat was knocked out in the third round of voting by Tory MPs.
James Cleverly
Mr Cleverly, 55, was the first out of the gate, announcing he would run for leader the day before nominations opened.
Some bookmakers had him as an outsider, but he had a significant boost after what was seen as a strong performance at the Conservative Party Conference.
In third round of parliamentary voting he came top, with 39 MPs backing his leadership bid. But just a day later he was knocked out in the final MP’s ballot.
Having served as education secretary, foreign secretary, and home secretary, Mr Cleverly was one of the more experienced contenders.
He stressed the need to win back younger voters with a pro-growth agenda and urged the party to be more “normal”.
While popular within the party, he was seen as occasionally gaffe-prone. He warned rivals not to “divide up and factionalise” the party.
Former leadership rival Mel Stride had backed him to win.
Suella Braverman
She is another former home secretary, 44, who is very much on the right of the Conservative Party.
Ms Braverman was forced to deny she plans to defect to Reform UK. A day before Tory leadership nominations closed in July, she dropped out of the contest claiming her party was unwilling to confront the “woke virus”.
However, critics speculated she lacked the requisite support to launch a campaign.
Her attacks on her party with claims it risked becoming full of "centrist cranks" may have alienated moderate Tory MPs.
