Mel Stride knocked out of Tory leadership race in second round of MP voting
Tory MPs have voted to knock out yet another candidate, as the final four now head to the party's Birmingham conference.
Mel Stride has been eliminated from the Tory leadership contest in the second round of voting.
Mr Stride came last with 16 supporters, behind Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly tied on 21 each.
Robert Jenrick won the vote for a second time, increasing his supporters to 33 backers.
Kemi Badenoch came second, with 28 votes.
Priti Patel was the first to be ousted from the contest, receiving just 14 supporters last week.
All but three Tory MPs voted, a repeat of the first round, with Rishi Sunak and the two deputy speakers declining to cast a ballot.
The final four will now head into the Tory party conference, where they will spend the four days making their case to members.
There will then be a final vote-off on October 9, when MPs will knock out two further candidates.
The final two hopefuls will then be put to a ballot of party members, who will vote until October 31. Mr Sunak's replacement will be announced on November 2.
Responding to the result of today’s ballot, Kemi Badenoch thanked all of her colleagues who voted for her, and highlighted the fact she gained more votes than any rival candidate compared to the first ballot.
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A Badenoch campaign spokesman said: “Kemi has the momentum - she’s putting on votes from right across the Party, has more Shadow Cabinet backers than the other candidates combined, and the independent polling shows she is overwhelmingly the choice of the party membership."
"The Conservatives need a leader with the star power to cut through, take the fight to Labour and lead us back to government. Kemi is that leader.”
A magnanimous Tom Tugendhat thanked his defeated rival, Mel Stride, for “running such a great campaign”.
The centrist standard-bearer added: “You’ve shown our party has the economic vision and ideas that we need to win”.
“Your campaign is one that all Conservatives can be proud of.”
Mr Tugendhat’s campaign was buoyed by the result, and the fact he put on many more votes than his centre-ground rival James Cleverly.
They insisted that despite Mr Tugendhat coming well behind his two more right-wing rivals, it is “all to play for” come the party conference.
Mr Cleverly described Mr Stride as a “great friend, campaigner and politician”.
Speaking to Sky News, frontrunner Robert Jenrick said he has emerged as the frontrunner because his message is resonating with both MPs, members and the general public.
He argued: “I’m incredibly grateful to all of the colleagues from all wings of the Conservative Party who have supported me today.”
“The message I have put across in this campaign is change. Changing the Conservative Party to restore the public’s trust and confidence in us, and begin the process of getting back into contention.
“I’m grateful people have listened to that, responded to it and are supported it.”
Questioned about claims of dirty tricks being used designed to push Ms Badenoch out of the leadership race, Mr Jenrick insisted he is just concentrating on persuading his colleagues and party members.
