Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch are through to the final round of the Conservative leadership race after knocking out James Cleverly.
The shock result, announced in Parliament, was met with gasps from some who had expected Cleverly to get through to the last two, after he had delivered a well-received speech at the party’s conference last week and topped the ballot of MPs in the third round on Tuesday.
However, in the fourth round he received 37 votes from his colleagues, falling behind Badenoch on 42 and Jenrick on 41.
The final two candidates will now be put to Conservative Party members with the result due on 2 November.
Whoever becomes leader will be charged with turning around the fortunes of a party that had governed Britain, alone or in coalition, since 2010 but which suffered its worst defeat in the July election, when Labour won a landslide victory.
But the Conservatives are more hopeful of returning to power in five years’ time rather than the once expected 10 after Prime Minister Keir Starmer suffered a bumpy start in government, coming under fire over welfare cuts and donations for clothes.
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