James Cleverly soared into an astonishing lead in the Tory leadership race today.
The former home and foreign secretary roared up on the rails from third to pass former frontrunner Kemi Badenoch and long time frontrunner Robert Jenrick.
Mr Cleverly was the main beneficiary of a third round of votes by Tory MPs this afternoon after impressing at party conference in Birmingham last week.
Tom Tugendhat, the former security minister, became the third challenger to be eliminated this afternoon, and it is generally thought that his moderate backers are more likely to switch allegiance to Mr Cleverly in a fourth vote tomorrow.
That would suggested he is nailed on to make the final two play-off who go to a vote by Tory members, with Jenrick and Badenoch fighting it out to join him.
They both struggled at the conference after a string of gaffes and poorly received speeches.
Any result that prevents Ms Badenoch from advancing is likely to spark uproar from her supporters.
While the money is on Mr Cleverly, she remains the favourite among the Tory membership, who will have the final say on who is crowned the new party boss on November 2.
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The race is firmly set up to be a fight between the right wing of the party, represented by Ms Badenoch and Mr Jenrick…
… and the moderates, represented by Mr Cleverly and Mr Tugendhat.
One them will be eliminated in a vote by the remaining 121 Tory parliamentarians, reducing the field to three this afternoon
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Mr Cleverly has become the bookmakers’ favourite after he urged party members to be ‘more normal’ and ‘sell Conservatism with a smile’ in a speech in Birmingham.
And a new poll today suggests he is the only candidate to end the event more popular with members than before.
He was level with Mr Tugendhat, but was been boosted by he backing of former candidate Mel Stride and Paul Holmes, who quit as a party whip today in order to publicly back him.
Mr Stride described Mr Cleverly as ‘strong, clear and measured’.
‘We need a leader who both gets the need for the rapid reform of our party machine but who can also reach across the party and appeal to our broad base.
‘Someone who has experience in government, the party, and is an effective communicator,’ he wrote in The Telegraph.
Mr Tugendhat, the former soldier and security minister, came fourth despite pulling in more money that the other candidates and winning the backing of influential figures including Andy Street, the former West Midlands mayor.
Former minister and ex-MP Steve Baker, who is backing Mr Tugendhat, said Mr Cleverly is ‘extremely affable’ but said that ‘being affable is not in itself enough to be a successful prime minister’.
He added: ‘It does look like James was very well received at conference.’
He said there is a ‘very significant information asymmetry’ between members of parliament and voting Tory party members.
‘Members of Parliament know more about these candidates than is presented in speeches and they will judge the candidates on more than what’s in the speeches,’ he added.
Mr Baker said he thought Mr Tugendhat was ‘better equipped to take the difficult decisions which need to be taken’ and that his tone on issues like the European Convention on Human Rights is ‘far superior to Robert (Jenrick)’.
Former immigration minister Mr Jenrick has put leaving the ECHR at the centre of his campaign and sparked a backlash last week after he claimed in a video that UK special forces are ‘killing rather than capturing’ terrorists.
Mr Tugendhat has said he would introduce a cap on legal migration if he were prime minister.
He has acknowledged that his three competitors have ‘more management experience around the cabinet table’, but said: ‘I am not here to manage, I am here to lead.’
Former business secretary Ms Badenoch faced criticism during the conference for having suggested statutory maternity pay places an ‘excessive’ burden on small businesses.
She said in her conference speech that ‘I do not like to fight but I’m not afraid to fight’.
