Cleverly gets boost ahead of Tory leadership knockout vote

One of the remaining four Tory leadership hopefuls will be knocked out of the race to replace Rishi Sunak on Tuesday as Conservative MPs vote to narrow the field to three.

The parliamentary party will hold hustings in the morning, followed by a vote in the afternoon. Another vote will take place on Wednesday.

James Cleverly has become the bookmakers’ favourite after he urged party members to be “more normal” and “sell Conservatism with a smile” in a speech at the party’s conference last week.

An endorsement from Mel Stride on Monday night gave the former home and foreign secretary another boost to his campaign.

The four remaining contenders will be seeking to pick up the 16 votes that went to Mr Stride in the last round of voting, when the shadow work and pensions secretary was knocked out of the running.

Mr Cleverly and fellow hopefuls Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat and Robert Jenrick pitched themselves to party members at the Tory conference.

But they will need to make it through votes on Tuesday and Wednesday by their parliamentary peers that will whittle down the candidates to two before the vote is put to the whole party membership in a ballot that closes on October 31.

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.

Former minister and ex-MP Steve Baker, who is backing Mr Tugendhat, told the PA news agency that 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”.

The new leader will be announced on November 2.

Mr Cleverly and Mr Jenrick have complained that the drawn-out process will not conclude in time for a new Conservative leader to respond to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first Budget, which she will present on October 30.