Rory Stewart stayed alive in the Tory leadership race today after he received an unexpected surge in support among MPs and he emerged as a real contender to make it into the final two.
The International Development Secretary started the contest as a rank outsider but he managed to secure the backing of 37 of his colleagues during the second round of voting – almost double the 19 he got in the first round.
Attention immediately turned to how Mr Stewart could secure further support as he tries to advance tomorrow when MPs vote for the third time.
Dominic Raab’s elimination from the race today means his 30 supporters are up for grabs but the vast majority of them are expected to break for Boris Johnson given their similarly hardline approaches to Brexit.
That means Mr Stewart is likely to turn his attention to winning over the supporters of Michael Gove and Sajid Javid in order to keep his campaign heading in the right direction.
Mr Gove suffered a disappointing result in today’s ballot as he only managed to win the support of 41 MPs, just four more than he managed in the first round.
Meanwhile, Mr Javid squeaked into the next round after he received the backing of 33 Tory MPs – the minimum number needed to continue in the contest.
The Home Secretary’s position in the contest is the most precarious of the five remaining candidates and Mr Stewart is likely to target his supporters amid speculation Mr Javid could pull out.
Dominic Raab was ejected from the Tory leadership contest tonight as he came bottom of the pile with just 30 votes
The International Development Secretary attended Cabinet today and offered an echo of what it could look like if he pulls off a shock victory in the leadership contest
It was reported immediately after the results were announced that Mr Stewart had already sent text messages to the supporters of other candidates asking them to switch their allegiance.
Heading into the second round of voting Mr Stewart said he believed his campaign was on a knife-edge but he then streaked past the minimum 33 votes needed.
Mr Stewart said he had been ‘pleasantly surprised’ by the result but insisted he was still the ‘underdog’ in the race to succeed Theresa May, with her replacement due to be announced in the week starting July 22.
‘Many of these MPs didn’t tell me they were going to vote for me, so I’ve been pleasantly surprised,’ he told reporters outside the BBC studios as he arrived to take part in a Tory leadership debate in which he reiterated his opposition to a No Deal Brexit.
However, he faced criticism online during the debate as he was accused of ‘manspreading’ and mocked for taking his tie off midway through to apparently appear as more of a ‘man of the people’.
Boris Johnson (pictured arriving at the debate tonight) was accused of plotting to ‘lend’ some of his massive support to rival Jeremy Hunt to close out Mr Stewart – but the tactic did not work
A spokeswoman for Mr Stewart said the massive increase in support from the first round to the second showed he could go ‘all the way’.
Jeremy Hunt came second again today with 46, but he failed to make much headway since last Tuesday, adding just three votes.
Mr Johnson increased his haul from 114 to 126 as he further cemented his position as the prohibitive favourite.
But the former foreign secretary’s showing in the vote was lower than some had forecast, increasing by just 12 despite a series of high-profile endorsements.
There have been claims some One Nation Tories are backing him in public, but voted for Mr Stewart in the secret ballot.
Rory Stewart (pictured arriving at BBC studios tonight) said he had been ‘pleasantly surprised’ by the result of the second Tory MP ballot, nearly doubling his tally of 19 from last week.
Dominic Raab (pictured at Westminster yesterday) was humiliatingly evicted with just 30 votes, having added just three over the past week, and his Eurosceptic support is now likely to flow to Mr Johnson.
Mr Stewart’s spokeswoman said: ‘This is a fantastic result for Rory – almost doubling his vote – with the biggest increase of all the candidates.
‘This shows his momentum is continuing to build. He can now go all the way to the final two, giving the clear choice that members deserve.’
Justice Secretary David Gauke, a Rory backer, told Sky News: ‘Rory will run a positive campaign and make the case of why he should be PM. I think it is really important that we have a proper debate.’
Meanwhile, Mr Hunt tried to put a brave face on his stalled support, describing it as a ‘solid result’.
The five Tory leadership contenders took part in a televised debate tonight but Rory Stewart was criticised for ‘manspreading’ and for taking off his tie
‘It shows a steady step forward, which is exactly what we were expecting. It confirms that Jeremy is the best placed candidate to take on Boris,’ a spokesman said.
Mr Stewart spent the afternoon desperately ringing round supporters of his rivals as he scrambled to avoid being ejected from the battle this evening.
Earlier, Mr Stewart joked that he must be ‘doing something right’ amid claims Mr Johnson was deploying dirty tricks to avoid facing him in the run-off, including asking supporters to back Mr Hunt at the ballot to ensure he made the final two.
As he arrived to vote in a Commons committee room this evening, Mr Stewart jibed that he had been trying to woo Mr Johnson’s campaign chief Gavin Williamson.
‘Apparently he is lending votes so I’m very keen on him to lend me 15 votes to get through,’ he told reporters.
Sajid Javid, who has attacked his rivals’ privileged backgrounds, gave a thumbs up as he arrived for the Cabinet meeting today
He admitted he was ‘not confident’ that he had the 33 votes needed to avoid automatic eviction from the contest.
Mr Stewart said: ‘I have got to simultaneously write my resignation speech and prepare for the debate at the same time.’
However, if the tactic was deployed it seems to have failed miserably.
As tensions rose today, Mr Gove and Mr Javid targeted Mr Stewart as the other half of a pincer movement looking to encircle the surprise second favorite.
Mr Gove pleaded with Tory MPs not to vote for Mr Stewart to get into the final two, saying ‘it would be a mistake to put forward two candidates to the final round who will polarise our party,’ in an article for the Times.
However, he also held out an olive branch to Mr Stewart by saying he wanted him ‘at the heart of my team’ in future. If the minister is kicked out of the race his endorsement will be fought over.
Mr Javid used a radio interview to warn that the leadership run-off does not ‘look like a debate at the Oxford Union’ – a jab at Mr Johnson and Mr Stewart’s privileged backgrounds.
He also suggested that Mr Stewart was ‘effectively telling us we should remain in the EU’ – causing the International Development Secretary to retort that he was in favour of a ‘moderate and pragmatic Brexit’.
A poll of activists by the ConservativeHome website today found Mr Johnson was still way ahead – but Mr Stewart has been gaining ground