Today’s third round of MP voting in the Tory leadership race has given James Cleverly an almost perfect result.
Not only did he have a massive uplift of 18 MPs to 39, but with the 20 votes of the eliminated Tom Tugendhat now in play, it looks like he can afford to ‘choose’ the opponent he will face in the final two.
Robert Jenrick has lost ground, sliding two votes to 31, while Kemi Badenoch has added two to reach 30. It does not take a genius to work out what Cleverly’s team is likely to do next.
It looks like he can afford to ‘choose’ the opponent he will face in the final two
Should he get gain the support of even half of the backers of his fellow centrist Tom Tugendhat – a modest bar to clear – it will put him far over the 41 votes needed to guarantee making the final.
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