It’s official: the Tories believe in JC. Following last week’s party conference in Birmingham, James Cleverly has this afternoon topped the penultimate ballot of Tory MPs. The Shadow Home Secretary stormed into the lead with 39 MPs, overtaking both Robert Jenrick on 31 and Kemi Badenoch on 30 to officially confirm his status as the new frontrunner for Tory leader. After a disappointing showing in the previous ballot – in which Cleverly tied Tom Tugendhat with 21 MPs – the momentum shift puts him in prime position for the final round of voting tomorrow.
Cleverly picked up an extra 18 votes – some 15 per cent of the entire parliamentary party. His performance at the party conference went down well with the Tory faithful: a Conservative Home survey this week found that he had overtaken Jenrick both on members’ first preferences and in the final head-to-head. His speech was regarded by members as the best too.
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