Conservative Party leadership candidate James Cleverly delivers a speech during the Conservative Party Conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, October 2, 2024
JAMES CLEVERLY surged into the lead in the Tory leadership race today, building on an impressive turn as the “normal” candidate at the party conference.
The former foreign and home secretary leapt to first place from joint third, as ex-security minister Tom Tugendhat was eliminated in the latest round of voting by Conservative MPs.
Mr Cleverly secured the backing of 39 MPs, ahead of Robert Jenrick on 31 and Kemi Badenoch on 30. Mr Tugendhat got just 20 votes.
Once derided by Farage as a ‘fraud,’ Jenrick has defected to Reform, bringing experience and political ruthlessness to the populist right — and raising the unsettling prospect of a Farage-led movement with a seasoned operative pulling the strings, says ANDREW MURRAY
Badenoch under pressure to sack shadow justice secretary
