Gasps could be heard from Conservative MPs as the former Home and Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was knocked out of the Conservative Party leadership race on October 9th. This came as startling news to many, as Cleverly was expected to breeze through to the final two contenders after he emerged as the favourite candidate in the third round of voting.
The cause of Cleverly's elimination has been a topic of considerable speculation. The former Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, stated clearly that, "it was a total cock up". A popular theory is that some of Cleverly's supporters tried to vote tactically, lending votes to Robert Jenrick in hopes that he would be easier to defeat at the members' vote than the current favourite, Kemi Badenoch.
"Cleverly out. Labour gain."
However, reasons why Cleverly was kicked out have been largely ignored in favour of celebrations from the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. Tony Blair's Director of Communications, Alastair Campbell posted on X, "Cleverly out. Labour gain."
Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick are now the two-remaining candiates, with 42 and 41 parliamentary backers of the 120 voting Tory MPs - former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not cast a vote.
Comments from Badenoch over, "excessive" maternity pay and comments from her campaign team on benefits received by autistic people led the National Autistic Society to label her as, "detached from reality". Robert Jenrick's campaign has been run mostly on immigration. Jenrich resigned as Immigration Minister in December 2023, over his beliefs that the Rwanda scheme, "did not go far enough".
It is expected that either Badenoch or Jenrick will most the Conservative Party further to the right, aiming to reclaim voters that they lost to Reform UK in this summer's General Election.
