The two winners from the first Tory leadership round

Priti Patel is out of the race to be the next Tory leader. In the first knockout round of the contest, the former Home Secretary received the lowest number of votes at 14, behind Mel Stride who was in fifth place with 16 votes. It is Robert Jenrick who has the most to celebrate – after coming out on top in the ballot with 28 votes. His supporters have said this week that they believe he is ‘nailed on’ to make the final two, who are then picked by the membership. While he still needs to gain more support, this result will add to the sense that Jenrick is a serious contender.

As for the other candidates: the initial bookies’ favourite Kemi Badenoch came second with 22 votes. Then James Cleverly was close behind in third on 21 and Tom Tugendhat was on fourth on 17. It means Cleverly is the other winner from the first round. Many MPs in the centre have been waiting to see which of Tugendhat and Cleverly was ahead – the idea being that the frontrunner would then be where many One Nation MPs go next. It means this result ought to give Cleverly’s campaign a sense of momentum. 

With another knockout round next week, the battle is now on to hoover up Patel’s supporters – and tempt other MPs to defect from their current leadership teams if they appear to have little chance of succeeding. Patel struggled to gain much momentum early on in the campaign – her supporters are largely on the right of the party so could head to Jenrick and Badenoch. However, given she ran on a unity pitch similar to Cleverly, he may pick up some support.

Next week’s vote will also be key to giving the final four candidates a strong platform from which to address the membership at party conference. Badenoch’s team will now need to work to try to win over more MPs to her camp if she is to have a chance to reach the final two. Given Badenoch regularly tops the membership polls, her challenge has long been getting to the final two. On today’s results, she has a path, but it is not guaranteed.