Tory leadership candidates mount a final push to woo over fellow MPs

The four Tory leadership candidates are mounting a final push to win over fellow MPs ahead of another crunch vote tomorrow.

Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat are all still in the contest to replace Rishi Sunak.

But the field of contenders will be whittled down to a final pairing through further voting by Conservative MPs on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ahead of this week's ballots, Mr Cleverly has enjoyed an apparent surge in support among Tory members, who will elect the party's next leader from the final two.

A survey by the ConservativeHome website showed the former home secretary was now the second favourite with the party's grassroots.

He was backed by a quarter (25 per cent) of members to be the next Tory leader, with only Ms Badenoch (on 32 per cent support) ahead of him.

The survey, conducted after the recent Conservative conference in Birmingham, found support for Mr Cleverly had grown 12 points from before the party's gathering.

It also showed Mr Cleverly had overtaken Mr Jenrick (down six points) when Tory members were asked who should replace Mr Sunak.

A YouGov poll of Tory members, conducted prior to the Conservative conference, found Ms Badenoch backed by 27 per cent of the party's grassroots, with Mr Jenrick supported by 24 per cent, and Mr Cleverly and Mr Tugendhat both on 16 per cent. 

Mr Cleverly was widely-regarded to have performed the best at last week's Tory conference, when each of the leadership candidates made a closing speech to delegates.

He later declared himself the 'frontrunner' in the contest and said he had shown 'you can be a winner without being a b******'.

But Mr Cleverly, also a former foreign secretary, was later rocked by a row over Labour's decision to give up sovereignty of the strategically important Chagos Islands.

His Tory leadership rivals pointed out that talks with Mauritius over the future of the disputed archipelago began when Mr Cleverly was in charge of the Foreign Office.

Allies of Mr Tugendhat - who was said to have opposed handing over the islands while he was in government - were most vociferous in their attacks on Mr Cleverly.

The former security minister has since been boosted by public declarations of support from two senior Tories.

Andy Street, the former West Midlands mayor, hailed Mr Tugendhat as the leaderhsip candidate best able to champion 'a moderate, inclusive brand of Conservatism'.

'One that focuses on real societal issues, not ideology,' he added on X, formerly known as Twitter, this morning.

It came after Andrew Mitchell, the former deputy foreign secretary, revealed on Sunday that he would be voting for Mr Tugendhat tomorrow.

He told Sky News: 'I think that in James Cleverly we see tremendous good communication skills. I think that in Kemi we see real charisma.

'I think in Robert Jenrick we see real hard work and getting to grips with the policy issues. And I think we see great gravitas in Tom Tugendhat.

'So, there's something in each of them. We've just got to decide which of those great characteristics will best serve us.

'I haven't decided yet but on the Tuesday vote, I will certainly be voting to keep Tom Tugendhat in.'