Katy Balls is The Spectator’s political editor.
It’s day one of the national campaign of the Tory leadership campaign – and Rishi Sunak has a mountain to climb. The former chancellor has already admitted that he is the underdog in the race, with the majority of membership polling indicating Liz Truss will be selected as the next prime minister. A YouGov poll released today
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So far, most polls of Tory members show that they’d prefer Liz Truss to Rishi Sunak when it comes to the next Conservative party leader. With ballots for the membership phase going out at the beginning of August, it’s vitally important for Sunak to break through to members as soon as possible. Can he catch
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Conservative MPs have chosen the final two candidates to be presented to the Tory membership in the final round of this leadership contest. Over the rest of the summer, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak will be travelling around the country to attend dozens of hustings with Tory members. Will this phase be less rancorous? Or
The last stage of the parliamentary rounds of the leadership contest is here. This afternoon, MPs will vote to decide which two out of Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak progresses to the final round, in which they are whittled down to one by the party membership. The new leader will be announced at
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There has been another elimination in the Tory leadership race. Break-out star Kemi Badenoch is out, with three remaining candidates left until tomorrow’s vote. Who will be the final two in the race? And are there signs of Tory MPs lending votes to manipulate the results?James Forsyth is joined by Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman.
It’s the day of the penultimate ballot in the parliamentary stage of the Tory leadership contest. The four candidates left in the contest are Rishi Sunak, 115 votes, Penny Mordaunt, 82 votes, Liz Truss, 71 votes, and Kemi Badenoch, 58 votes. Voting to whittle the four to three begins this afternoon with the result announced
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Tom Tugendhat has been knocked out of the Tory leadership race. With Rishi Sunak leading the pack, and Liz Truss, Penny Mordaunt and Kemi Badenoch in a cluster behind, who will come out on top? Max Jeffery speaks to Katy Balls and James Forsyth.
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This morning, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss pulled out of the Sky News leadership debate, scheduled for tomorrow evening. What does this say for public scrutiny in Britain? ‘I’m afraid to say if you want to be Prime Minister you need to be able to fight anywhere, any place, anytime’ – Fraser Nelson. This evening,
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Isabel Hardman, James Forsyth and Katy Balls pick through tonight’s ITV debate with the five candidates for Prime Minister.
In just a few days, the Conservative leadership race will be down to the final two candidates. But what happens after that is unclear. This afternoon, the ConservativeHome website released another round of polling. This time it is on how the candidates would fare against one another in the run-offs if they made it to the final
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In the first televised Tory leadership debate, the five remaining candidates set out their stalls on trust in politics, tax cuts and the NHS ahead of the next round of voting on Monday. How did each candidate fare tonight? Katy Balls speaks to Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth.
How many promises should a candidate make in a leadership contest? If you’re Penny Mordaunt, the answer appears to be very few. The trade minister has upset her leadership rivals by becoming the surprise bookies’ favourite in the contest. It means the knives are out when it comes to her efforts – with figures such
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The ERG’s favoured candidate, Suella Braverman, dropped out of the Tory leadership race last night. This morning, ERG chair Mark Francois said that he wanted the 60-strong group to now back Liz Truss. Will they? And looking ahead to tonight’s Channel 4 debate, why does the format most benefit Kemi Badenoch? Cindy Yu speaks to
Can Liz Truss gather momentum behind her leadership bid? That’s the challenge facing the Foreign Secretary today ahead of the second round of voting in the contest. Truss is vying for votes among the right of the party along with Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch. Of the three, she came out on top in the
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The first ballot of the Tory leadership contest is now over, with Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi knocked out as they weren’t able to meet the 30 votes required in this round (on 18 votes, Hunt actually lost two supporters from yesterday’s nomination round). The question of who their supporters fold in behind next is
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Today all candidates need 30 nominations to make it through to the next round. One dark horse in the race is Penny Mordaunt who is seen as Labour’s greatest threat. This morning she held her official campaign launch in at Westminster’s Cinnamon Club – promising to ‘fix a broken Whitehall’. But will she be able
As cabinet members were lining up last week to tell Boris Johnson to resign, one major actor was absent from the drama. Liz Truss was in Indonesia at a G20 summit and missed the fun. She flew back the day after Johnson announced his resignation, knowing that if she makes it to the final stage
Is Penny Mordaunt the dark horse in the Tory leadership race? After topping a Conservative Home poll of Tory MPs, Mordaunt is certainly viewed as a dangerous candidate by her leadership rivals. This morning she held her official campaign launch in a sweaty, crowded room in Westminster’s Cinnamon Club. The former defence secretary struck a patriotic
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Appropriately matched to the summer heatwave, the Tory leadership contest is hotting up. Whilst Grant Shapps has pulled out and decided to back Rishi Sunak, candidates must secure nominations from at least 20 MPs by this evening to enter the contest. Who will go through to the next round? And are they ready to be
Kemi Badenoch has just completed her leadership launch. Although she is an outside bet, her campaign has been building momentum after Michael Gove endorsed her and she came a narrow second in a ConHome poll on who should be the next Tory leader. The launch saw her try to put the flesh on the bones