Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch will fight to become the next Conservative Leader after leader James Cleverly was sensationally voted out of the election by MPs.
Former Home Secretary Mr Cleverly took a surprising lead in the vote yesterday, but fell to third place in the a fourth and final round of voting at Westminster this afternoon.
The shock will be to see Jenrick face Badenoch, the former business secretary, who is seen as the grassroots favourite, in a vote among party members.
It means that the next leader will be from the right of the party, with both candidates adopting a hard line on issues such as immigration and woke culture.
Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick and James Cleverly are competing to be in the final two for the Conservative leadership today
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Iain Duncan Smith is the latest Conservative MP to back Kemi Badenoch in the leadership contest today
Mr Cleverly at Boris Johnson's book launch in London last night
Badenoch and Jenrick were engaged in a desperate battle to keep their Tory leader hopes alive today as MPs prepare to choose the final two.
The shadow secretary of Housing and the former minister of Immigration were fighting for the support of colleagues after a shockwave from Tiago. Intelligently I saw him installed as favorite.
Rival camps claimed MPs had stopped “buying into Jenrick’s bulls**t” after he backed down in yesterday’s final vote – losing two votes to finish on 31, just one ahead of Badenoch, who was up two.
Mr Cleverly enjoyed a breathtaking surge after being seen as the best performer at the Conservative conference in Birmingham last week, rising from 21 supporters to 39.
With just 121 Conservative MPs after Rishi Sunak's disastrous election result, that's just one short of the number that guarantees his place in the second round.
The shadow home secretary was also expected to win most of the 20 supporters gathered by Tom Tugendhat, who was eliminated last night after coming fourth.
Polls carried out by the website ConservativeHome suggested that Cleverly would defeat Jenrick but could fight Badenoch.
Cleverly – who last night attended the launch of Boris Johnson's book, Unleashed in London, with his wife Susannah – paid tribute to his “close friend”, Mr Tugendhat, saying he “would have a big role to play in the future of our party.”
But allies rejected claims he could now give him support to avoid a confrontation with Badenoch.
One said: 'We're clear – MPs need to vote for the candidate they want to win, and we think it should be James. This is what we are telling deputies. Absolutely no games.
A source from a rival camp told MailOnline that MPs had “stopped buying the bulls**” from Jenrick.
“Now it has become obvious that people are abandoning it. He had careerist supporters who now know he cannot win,” they said.
One veteran conservative aide said: 'Those Bobby J baseball caps blew him away, as did David Davis with the DD for Me shirts.'
Badenoch supporters said the drop in support for Jenrick among MPs showed he could not win.
A campaign spokesperson said: “There are three candidates left in this race, two are gaining votes and one is slipping.
'The party's right needs to unite around Kemi, who has the star quality to overcome the opposition and is the undisputed members' choice for leader.'
Despite the loss of momentum, Jenrick's campaign insisted he was in a “prime position” to make it to the final two.
The former immigration minister has adopted a hard-line stance on immigration, promising to abandon the European Convention on Human Rights – a move that some moderate conservatives oppose.
But a campaign spokesman said he was attracting support from other moderates such as former health secretary Victoria Atkins and right-wing MPs.
Tom Tugendhat was the last to be eliminated in yesterday's Conservative leader vote
Cleverly was the main beneficiary of a third round of votes by Conservative MPs yesterday, announced by 1922 committee chairman Bob Blackman.
One of Jenrick MP's supporters attacked Badenoch, saying: 'MPs have a choice between a serious and competent leader or, on a weekly basis, having to defend attacks on Doctor Who, and crazy ideas like reducing maternity pay, ending free care in the NHS and how the minimum wage is too high.'
To boost Jenrick, Theresa May's former chief of staff Nick Timothy last night spoke out in support of her.
Having supported Tugendhat until he was knocked out yesterday, Timothy said the only candidate left who offered “a relentless analysis of why we lost and what we should do next” was Jenrick.
Conservative party members will vote for the final two candidates and the result will be announced on November 2.
