It’s official: the Tory leadership contest to replace Theresa May as Prime Minister has now begun. At 5pm today, the nominations closed for candidates to enter the leadership race before hustings and the first round of voting takes place this week.
In order to narrow down an already crowded field, each candidate had to receive the backing of at least eight Conservative MPs at this first stage: a principal, seconder, and six other parliamentary colleagues who could remain anonymous. Despite this, ten candidates still managed to make it through to the next stage.
Below are the candidates who received enough nominations to proceed, and the MPs who either didn’t enter, or couldn’t muster enough support to make it to the next round:
Who’s in:
Boris Johnson
Jeremy Hunt
Dominic Raab
Sajid Javid
Matt Hancock
Mark Harper
Michael Gove
Andrea Leadsom
Esther McVey
Rory Stewart
Who’s out:
Sam Gyimah
Graham Brady – did not enter the race
Steve Baker – backed Boris
Penny Mordaunt – backed Jeremy Hunt earlier today
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