TORYISM is set to lurch sharply rightwards after Conservative MPs sent the two most neanderthal leadership candidates into the final ballot of party members.

In a shock result, today’s frontrunner James Cleverly lost votes and was eliminated from the race.

In the last MPs’ vote, Kemi Badenoch came first with 42 supporters, Robert Jenrick followed with 41 and Mr Cleverley brought up the rear with 37.

The previous elimination of centrist Tory Tom Tugendhat had led to assumptions that his 20 backers would mostly swing behind Mr Cleverly.

Instead Mr Cleverly lost two votes as Mr Tugendhat’s support appears to have swung sharply right. 

Vote-switching to try to exclude one or other of the other candidates may provide an explanation.

The Tories’ shrivelled and angst-ridden membership will now have to choose between two reactionaries uninterested in meeting the electorate half way.

Former business secretary Ms Badenoch, the members’ darling according to polling, is an abrasive culture warrior who has proposed cutting maternity pay and jailing obstructive civil servants, and believes too many migrants “hate Israel.”

Ex-immigration minister Mr Jenrick, known for cutting an illegal planning deal with an ex-porn mogul, has focused on curbing migration and erecting the Israeli state symbol at the UK border.

It is good news for floundering Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer since Mr Cleverly, whose big mistake may have been to describe himself as “normal,” would likely have been most attractive to voters.

Labour chair Ellie Reeves said: “Both Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick have already proven they’ve learned nothing from the mistakes that took the Conservative Party to its worst defeat in modern history.”

But it is less welcome for Nigel Farage’s Reform party, since Badenoch or Jenrick will try to outbid him on hostility to immigrants.

The tormented process will conclude on November 2, when the membership’s choice will be revealed.