Mel Stride is the second candidate to be eliminated from the Tory leadership contest, receiving the fewest votes in today’s ballot of Tory MPs.
It leaves Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly as the 4 remaining candidates, who will each make their case at the Tory party conference on 29th September.
The results of the second ballot were:
- Robert Jenrick 33
- Kemi Badenoch 28
- James Cleverly 21
- Tom Tugendhat 21
- Mel Stride 16 – ELIMINATED
Bob Blackman, Chairman of the 1922 Committee, confirmed that further ballots will take place on the week commencing 7th October to reduce the contest to 2 candidates. The pair will then be put to a electronic/postal ballot of Conservative party members.
Rishi Sunak’s replacement, and the person tasked with rebuilding the Tory party after their worst ever election defeat, will then be announced on 2nd November.
Mel Stride was always an outsider candidate for the party leadership, with many surprised that he made it past the first round of voting last week. He effectively became the face of the Tory election campaign thanks to his frequent morning media appearances.
Unlike some of his former cabinet colleagues, Stride held on to his parliamentary seat, but by a measly 61 votes. He blamed party infighting for their election defeat, and promised to unite the party and win back voters from the Lib Dems, Reform and Labour.
He positioned himself as a centrist economic expert, citing his experience working in the Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions. It is unclear who his supporters will now back, but in a contest this tight, his 16 votes could make a huge difference in the post-conference ballots.
Last week’s first ballot saw Robert Jenrick come out of top with 28 votes, and Kemi Badenoch in second with 22. Kemi Badenoch’s camp accused Jenrick of lending votes to Cleverly to push her out of the final two, but Jenrick’s team refuted this claim. The pair were again 1st and 2nd in today’s ballot, with Jenrick increasing his tally to 33 and Badenoch receiving 28 votes. Among Conservative party members, Badenoch is the favoured candidate, with Conservative Home polling giving her a 16-point lead over Robert Jenrick.
James Cleverly will be disappointed that he again got just 21 votes, suggesting that Priti Patel’s supporters clearly switched their allegiance to Badenoch, Jenrick and Tugendhat.
Despite this, polling suggests that according to the general public, James Cleverly is the Tory leadership candidate most likely to make a good Prime Minister.
The 4 remaining candidates will spend the next few weeks campaigning before heading to party conference. Some contenders have complained that they are only being given 10 minutes each to make their speeches at the party conference, arguing that this would restrict their chance to put forward their visions for Britain.
Some Tory MPs have also expressed concerns about the drawn-out nature of the leadership contest, and the fact that Rishi Sunak will still lead the party when Labour delivers its first budget statement on 30th October. It is expected that Sunak won’t feature much at the party conference, with it becoming a “beauty parade” of sorts for the 4 remaining candidates.
