The countdown for the two Tory leadership finalists is on – and in just over an hour the Conservative party membership will know who their ultimate choice will be between. Tuesday’s knock-out round saw Tom Tugendhat drop back to a distant fourth place, with a ten-point gap separating him from his competitors. Staggeringly James Cleverly – who had not initially been viewed as a leadership frontrunner – cut in front of the rest, with the backing of 37 MPs. And now, as Katy Balls wrote this morning, Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch are fighting it out in the race for second place.
Yet despite Badenoch’s third position result yesterday, the bookmakers are a little more optimistic about the straight-talking Tory contender’s chances today. The odds for the leadership wannabe have changed significantly in recent hours, this morning strengthening from 9/4 to 6/4 with Badenoch leading with 41 per cent of today’s bets. Currently Coral, BetFred and William Hill are among the bookies who reckon Badenoch’s fortunes are set to improve while SkyBet, Ladbrokes and Betfair put the Tory MP’s success rate above that of former home office minister and right-wing rival Jenrick. How curious…
It follows Nigel Farage’s prediction that Cleverly and Badenoch will make the last round of the leadership race – because, the Reform leader insisted on GB News, the ‘Conservative establishment…don’t want Jenrick’ over his ECHR plans. ‘Jenrick tried to be Nigel Farage,’ the new MP lamented, ‘but you can’t try to out-Farage Farage.’ Quite. And, if the bookies’ odds are anything to go by, the Clacton MP has placed a pretty safe bet…
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