James Cleverly declares himself 'frontrunner' in Tory leadership race

James Cleverly has declared himself the 'frontrunner' in the Tory leadership race as MPs prepare to whittle down the field of candidates to a final pairing.

The former home secretary claimed he was ahead in the contest after clinching a standing ovation at the party's conference in Birmingham yesterday.

He also said he had shown 'you can be a winner without being a b******' following his address to Conservative members.

From the four remaining leadership contenders - Mr Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat - two will be knocked out of the contest next week.

Tory MPs will vote on their return to Parliament, following their three-week break for party conferences, to determine the final two candidates.

Allies of Mr Cleverly are confident he can squeeze out Ms Badenoch to take on Mr Jenrick, who has so far attracted the most support among MPs, in the last stage of the contest.

Mr Tugendhat, seen as the outsider in the leadership race, is widely expected to be eliminated next week despite figures showing he has so far attracted the biggest financial backing.

One ally of Mr Cleverly suggested he would pick up the support of those Conservative MPs who previously backed Mel Stride, who was knocked out in the previous round of voting.

'If you like Mel because he’s experienced, a good communicator, has a vision and knows what he’s doing, can I introduce you to James Cleverly?' they told Politico.

The four remaining candidates will face the verdict of MPs after spending four days in Birmingham making their case to the wider Conservative Party.

Each were given the chance to address conference delegates on the final day of the party's gathering, with Mr Cleverly judged to have performed best by many observers.

Speaking after his conference address, Mr Cleverly suggested he was reaping the rewards of his 'relentlessly optimistic' campaign.

He told the Political Currency podcast: 'We have allowed the idea that to be a true conservative, you have to you have to somehow be angry or grumpy, and I don't buy into that.

'You can be positive and energetic and Tory. You can be a winner without, pardon my French, being a b******.

'My campaign has been run on a relentlessly optimistic ticket. I am literally proving my hypothesis.

'No blue on blue. No backbiting. If we get punched, we do not punch back anyone.

'If anyone briefs against one of my colleagues, they're off the campaign team, and now I am the frontrunner going into the next stage of the elections.'

Mr Jenrick remains the bookies' favourite to be elected the next Tory leader, with the former immigration minister having won both rounds of MPs' voting so far.

But it appears there will be a nailbiting race between Mr Cleverly and Ms Badenoch to join Mr Jenrick in the final pairing.

Once MPs have chosen the last two candidates, the party's wider membership will be balloted to elect a winner.

The new Tory leader will then be announced on 2 November.

Mr Tugendhat topped the list of donations among the Tory leadership candidates, receiving more than £150,000 for his campaign.

He declared more than £152,508.22 in the most recent declaration of MPs’ interests published yesterday, followed closely by Mr Jenrick who declared £134,376 of new donations.

Mr Cleverly and Ms Badenoch received £89,000 and £40,000 respectively.