This afternoon we will find out which two Tory MPs will face the Conservative party members in the leadership contest. Theresa May is the favourite and is far out in front of her closest rival, Andrea Leadsom, who has a decent lead over the third candidate, Michael Gove. But neither have had a very good few days. Leadsom was mocked for talking about frontal cortexes at the first party hustings this week, and has endured a great deal of criticism about her claims she is an experienced City figure. Gove, meanwhile, is still trying to overcome the charge that he is treacherous (he explains why he did what he did to Boris in an interview with James and Fraser in this week’s magazine), and is today also having to deal with the fallout from some pretty unwise text messages urging tactical voting that his campaign manager Nick Boles sent to May supporters.
Boles has apologised for the message, saying Gove didn’t know about it, but it reflects nerves in the campaign team that the Justice Secretary is not going to make it into the final two, which is a much worse humiliation than usual for Gove, given the way in which he launched his bid. He made big sacrifices, ones that would only really be worth it if he was able to face Tory members, who often greet his conference speeches with a great deal of emotion and enthusiasm. Pro-Gove sources are now worried that the text has added to the sense that he is too crafty by half, something they were working hard to contradict when canvassing MPs.
Comments