Tory leadership vote: Rory Stewart is OUT as Boris Johnson storms on

Rory Stewart crashed out of the Tory leadership battle tonight as Boris Johnson staged another surge in the third round of voting.

The Cabinet minister was dramatically axed from the contest after coming last with just 27 votes – down from 37 yesterday – leaving four hopefuls left to fight it out. 

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson picked up support from Dominic Raab, who was evicted in the previous round, to increase his tally again from 126 to 143 – tightening his grip on the keys to Downing Street. 

He said the outcome was a good 55th birthday present. ‘Thank you once again to friends and colleagues for your support in the third ballot – especially on my birthday! We’ve come a long way but we have much further to go,’ Mr Johnson tweeted.  

The wheels appeared to come off the Stewart bandwagon during the BBC TV debate last night, when he put on a strange and tetchy performance – at one point ripping off his tie. 

He then drew more ire from MPs by publicly trying to bounce Michael Gove into a pact – but suggesting he should be PM and his more senior rival Chancellor.

Mr Gove secured four votes more than Mr Stewart in the ballot last night, and flatly dismissed calls to stand aside. Jeremy Hunt managed to keep his nose ahead of Mr Gove and stay in second tonight, by 54 to 51.

Rival teams were already vying to win Mr Stewart’s endorsement and some of his backers tonight, with Mr Gove, Mr Hunt and Mr Javid praising him.  

Paying tribute to his team and supporters, Mr Stewart said he was ‘surprised’ his total had fallen. He said he thought it might be because he was seen as ‘divisive’ for going on the attack in the debate.

‘I am surprised. I don’t understand. You will have to ask MPs who switched. But something in the air must have made them sense that something else was going on,’ he told reporters.

‘Conversations have been had overnight and throughout the day saying to people ‘really I wouldn’t go with Rory, it’s not really winning, the numbers aren’t looking in the right direction’.

‘There is a sense in all these races that once people begin to believe that you haven’t got the numbers it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.’

Asked if he regretted attacking Mr Johnson he said: ‘Certainly that seems to be the feeling that people have. I would say though that you can’t unify a family or a country by sweeping things under the table.’ 

Another theory doing the rounds at Westminster was that Mr Johnson could have ‘loaned’ Mr Stewart some backers in the previous round to ensure Mr Raab went out. 

Rory Stewart (pictured outside Parliament today) had emerged as a surprise contender for the keys to Downing Street and appeared to have the momentum after the second round of voting. But his campaign faltered as he lost the support of 10 MPs and he crashed out

Mr Stewart paid tribute to his team and supporters on Twitter immediately after he was knocked out of the contest tonight

Mr Stewart paid tribute to his team and supporters on Twitter immediately after he was knocked out of the contest tonight

Boris Johnson, pictured leaving Parliament today after the results of the third round of voting were announced, has strengthened his grip on the Tory leadership race

Boris Johnson, pictured leaving Parliament today after the results of the third round of voting were announced, has strengthened his grip on the Tory leadership race

Mr Gove (pictured at Parliament today) had flatly dismissed a call from Mr Stewart to step aside and take a job as Chancellor

Mr Gove (pictured at Parliament today) had flatly dismissed a call from Mr Stewart to step aside and take a job as Chancellor 

Home Secretary Sajid Javid (right) looked confident as he posted a photo of himself voting in the Commons with some of his MP supporters this afternoon

Home Secretary Sajid Javid (right) looked confident as he posted a photo of himself voting in the Commons with some of his MP supporters this afternoon

The Tory leadership candidates will be hoping to improve on their performance in last night’s second round of voting (pictured) when MPs return to the ballot box today  

Mr Johnson has been busily adding to his huge list of supporters after Brexiteer Dominic Raab was knocked out yesterday.

What happens next in the Tory leadership race?

Tory MPs have now whittled the field of challengers down to just four candidates and by the end of tomorrow they will have selected the final two. 

Two ballots have been scheduled to take place tomorrow, with the result of the first expected at 1pm.

The candidate with the lowest number of votes will be eliminated and assuming that whoever finishes third decides to continue in the race, there will then follow another round of voting. 

The result of what would be the fifth and final round will then be announced at 6pm.

At that point Tory MPs will have completed their part of the leadership contest and the remaining two candidates will then be put to Conservative Party members to choose from. 

The final pair will have to face a series of 16 hustings events over the next month with Theresa May’s replacement expected to be announced in the week starting July 22.

Mr Raab had 30 votes, and pledged his support for Mr Johnson today saying he was the ‘only man to deliver Brexit on time’. His close allies Nadhim Zahawi and Andrea Jenkyns have also declared for Mr Johnson as he moves towards a seemingly inevitable victory. 

Mr Stewart and Mr Javid had 37 and 33 respectively in the previous ballot, but the balance shifted towards Mr Javid after he put in a strong showing in the TV debate last night. 

He went up to 38 today, while Mr Stewart – who admitted after the debate that he had ‘struggled’ – went into reverse. 

Mr Hunt insisted that coming second for a third time meant he was the candidate best placed to take on Mr Johnson in the final stage of the contest. 

‘If I make it to the final I will put my heart and soul into giving him the contest of his life: in politics today the unexpected often happens,’ he said. 

‘The stakes are too high to allow anyone to sail through untested.’ 

Mr Javid said he was ‘delighted’ to have made it through to the next round of voting, which will take place tomorrow. 

He thanked Mr Stewart for the ‘humility, authenticity, and pragmatism’ he had shown during the campaign. 

Education Secretary Damian Hinds said: ‘I have been campaigning for Michael, I want Michael to be in the final, I want him to win.

Odds of Boris being next PM slashed after third round victory 

Boris Johnson: 1/10

Jeremy Hunt: 14/1

Michael Gove: 16/1

Sajid Javid: 33/1

Source: Coral Bookmakers 

‘But I am very sorry to see Rory out of the contest. He has brought something unique. It has been different, it has been fresh, it has engaged people in this process way outside of this building.

‘I think it has got people involved and interested in politics probably who weren’t before. He has done a fantastic job and as I say I am sorry to see that he is not now in the remaining stages.

‘For people who have been supporting Rory obviously I want them to look towards Michael.’

Earlier, Mr Hunt, who came second yesterday with 46 votes, swiped that he has no idea what Mr Johnson ‘believes’ on Brexit.

The Foreign Secretary delivered a stinging assault on Mr Johnson for lacking ‘judgement’ – suggesting he had not ‘thought through’ his position.

Sources had suggested Mr Hunt was resigned to being leapfrogged in this bout by Mr Gove, as he was more likely to gain from Mr Raab’s exit. However, in the event he managed to stay ahead.  

Rival teams were already vying to win Mr Stewart's endorsement and some of his backers tonight, with Mr Gove, Mr Hunt and Mr Javid (pictured) praising him.

Rival teams were already vying to win Mr Stewart’s endorsement and some of his backers tonight, with Mr Gove, Mr Hunt and Mr Javid (pictured) praising him.

The result of the third ballot was announced by 1922 committee co-chair Charles Walker in the Houses of Parliament tonight

The result of the third ballot was announced by 1922 committee co-chair Charles Walker in the Houses of Parliament tonight

Interviewed on Sky News today, Mr Stewart said: ‘I feel it would be great to get into that final two, to persuade Sajid and Michael and Jeremy to join forces with me so that we can make sensible, reasonable arguments to keep our party together and keep our country together.’

Asked if he was ready to quit and back someone else, Mr Stewart said: ‘This is the problem. It is always the problem of politician’s egos. 

‘I would say to them that I am massively out polling them with all the key target groups we need, with 18 to 45 year-olds, with Scotland, with London, and we have to think about how to win an election.’ 

Sources on Mr Stewart’s campaign said: ‘Any team that gets combined, Rory wants to lead it.’ 

Mr Johnson’s team is breathing a sigh of relief after he emerged relatively unscathed from the TV debate last night, despite being hammered over his Iran blunder, Muslim veil jibes and tax cuts for the wealthy.

The former foreign secretary came under fire from all sides as he lined up alongside second-placed Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Mr Stewart and Mr Javid Javid for the hour-long session at the BBC studios in London.

But no clear winner emerged, with viewers enraged at the way the candidates dodged questions, as well as the bizarre format set by the corporation.

The BBC is also facing a crisis over allowing an Imam to ask a question who has previous on social media blaming women for rape, praising Corbyn and attacking Jews.

Five million people tune into BBC debate 

The BBC’s Tory leadership debate was watched by more than five million viewers, it emerged today.

It drew an average of 5.3 million viewers and peaked at 5.7 million. 

According to the corporation, the hour-long broadcast from 8pm was the ‘best performing programme of the night across all channels’. 

Channel 4’s debate on Sunday averaged 1.3 million viewers and peaked at 1.5 million. 

It included five of the Tory hopefuls, including Dominic Raab who failed to reach the next stage in the voting process yesterday, with an empty lectern left for Mr Johnson who did not participate. 

It was hosted by Krishnan Guru-Murthy. 

Sky News had previously announced plans to host a live head-to-head debate with the final two candidates. It will be hosted by Kay Burley, but the date has not yet been announced. 

It has also been reported ITV News will host its own leadership debate, but details are not yet known. 

Mr Johnson took the opportunity to set out his stall on Brexit, insisting the UK must leave the EU by the end of October. 

‘We must come out on the 31st October because otherwise I am afraid we face a catastrophic loss of confidence in politics,’ he said.

‘We have already kicked the can down the road twice and I think the British people are getting thoroughly fed up.’ 

He did fail to raise his hand when presenter Emily Maitlis asked the hopefuls to signal whether they would guarantee Brexit by October 31 – although aides insisted his position was clear.

Mr Hunt tried to capitalise on the apparent wavering today, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Well, I am not entirely sure what he believes on this, having listened to him last night.

‘You have to think these things through because prime ministers have to make these judgments.’  

Mr Hunt said he was best placed to cut a deal with Brussels on Brexit, implying that Mr Johnson would not be ‘trusted’ by Brussels.

‘We need a negotiator,’ he said. ‘A negotiator has to have three qualities. The first is it has to be someone the other side trust, because you don’t do a deal with somebody you don’t trust.

‘Secondly, it has got to be someone who doesn’t blink.

‘And thirdly, it has got to be somebody who is prepared to walk away.

‘Now, the danger is that if we choose the wrong person now, we will have no trust, no negotiation, no deal, and possibly, if we have an election, no Brexit.’

The debate exchanges quickly descended into furious squabbling, with Maitlis struggling to keep control. 

Mr Stewart, who bizarrely removed his tie as the row heated up, accused his colleagues of ‘staring at the wall’ rather than walking through the ‘door’ – which was to support the deal Mrs May had already thrashed out over two years. ‘Let’s get on with it,’ he said, adding that No Deal was ‘not possible’.

Under intense attack from all his rivals, Mr Johnson appeared to back off his plans to hand a £10billion tax cut to higher earners. He said the idea would merely start a ‘debate’ and be part of a wider ‘package’. 

He was also challenged on his handling of the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – the British mother held prisoner in Iran – while foreign secretary, as well as previous remarks comparing Muslim women in veils to ‘bank robbers’ and ‘letter boxes’. Mr Johnson said he was sorry if anything he had written over ’25-30 years when I was a journalist’ had caused offence. 

And he blustered when a questioner demanded to know whether he would fulfil his previous vow to ‘lie down in front of bulldozers’ to stop Heathrow airport expansion going ahead. 

Mr Stewart had been scrambling to hold on to the momentum he had built up by surging from just 19 votes in the first round to 37 in the second.

By contrast, Mr Javid was seen as putting on a strong performance, and toughened his stance on Brexit. He will be hoping to pick up some support from the 30 MPs who had supported Mr Raab. 

The BBC said the debate was watched by more than five million viewers.

It drew an average of 5.3 million viewers and peaked at 5.7 million. According to the corporation, the hour-long broadcast from 8pm was the ‘best performing programme of the night across all channels’. 

Channel 4’s debate on Sunday averaged 1.3 million viewers and peaked at 1.5 million. 

It included five of the Tory hopefuls, including Dominic Raab who failed to reach the next stage in the voting process yesterday, with an empty lectern left for Mr Johnson who did not participate. 

It was hosted by Krishnan Guru-Murthy. 

Sky News had previously announced plans to host a live head-to-head debate with the final two candidates. It will be hosted by Kay Burley, but the date has not yet been announced. 

It has also been reported ITV News will host its own leadership debate, but details are not yet known. 

Mr Raab (pictured in Westminster today) has pledged his support for Mr Johnson saying he was the 'only man to deliver Brexit on time'

Mr Raab (pictured in Westminster today) has pledged his support for Mr Johnson saying he was the ‘only man to deliver Brexit on time’

Mr Stewart and Sajid Javid (pictured on ITV's GMB programme today) are both trying to avoid being the next to be kicked out of the Tory contest tonight

Mr Stewart and Sajid Javid (pictured on ITV’s GMB programme today) are both trying to avoid being the next to be kicked out of the Tory contest tonight

Girls’ school suspend Imam who attacked Boris during BBC debate after tweets of his emerged blaming women for rape, praising Corbyn and attacking Jews  

An Imam and deputy headteacher who quizzed the Tory leadership candidates on the BBC has been suspended from his school after a series of controversial tweets were unearthed.

Abdullah Patel, who probed the contenders vying to be the next PM was today exposed as an anti-Semite who posted messages praising Jeremy Corbyn and blaming women for rape.

The series of vile posts were exposed moments after the debate on BBC One, in which he asked the Tory MPs on their views on Islamophobia and whether they believed ‘words have consequences.’ 

The corporation today refused to apologise and said the tweets were ‘not visible’ when they vetted him – however it has emerged that he was tweeting from the account just two days before the debate.  

A series of vile posts by Abdullah Patel were unearthed last night moments after the BBC debate

A series of vile posts by Abdullah Patel were unearthed last night moments after the BBC debate

Today Yakub Patel, Chair of Al-Madani Education Trust which runs Al-Ashraf Primary School in Gloucester, where Patel is a deputy headteacher said he had been suspended.

In a statement, he said: ‘Following some of the comments attributed to Mr Patel in the media this morning, the Trust has decided to suspend him from all school duties with immediate effect until a full investigation is carried out.

‘The ‘school’ and ‘Trust’ do not share the views attributed to him.’ 

In one tweet Patel he appeared to suggest women are to blame for rape, writing: ‘Lets make something clear: Generally, men are the predators, but women need to realise this and be smarter.  

‘It takes 2 to tango, and if you put yourself in that position, don’t expect every man to pass up the opportunity to take advantage of you. Don’t be alone with a man! ‘ 

Patel, listed on a Gloucester schools directory as being the deputy headteacher of the Al-Ashraf Primary School, also showed his support for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

He wrote: Vote UKLabour Vote JeremyCorbyn Vote for hopenotfear Vote for TheManyNottheFew. If you vote Tory you deserve all the cuts you get to tbh.’

Others showed his anti-Semitic views, with one post featuring a graphic once retweeted by Labour MP Naz Shah that saw her suspended by the Labour party in 2016.

Who were the winners and losers from the bad-tempered Tory leader showdown? 

By JACK DOYLE, Associate Editor

BORIS JOHNSON 

Best moment: Emphatic on Brexit. We must leave on October 31 or else the public will ‘look on us with increasing mystification’.

Worst moment: Grilled over his blunder on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe while Foreign Secretary. Claimed his words ‘didn’t make a difference’ to her sentence.

Verdict: Endured a few dicey moments when pressed by Emily Maitlis. No clear catastrophic blunder which could derail his campaign.

Up or down? No change

JEREMY HUNT 

Best moment: Brutal barb at Rory Stewart for rejecting No Deal outright. ‘You’re the no Brexit candidate.’

Worst moment: Invoking his mixed-race children in an attempt to divert from a question about Donald Trump.

Verdict: Belatedly turned his fire on his biggest threat, Rory Stewart, but struggled to cut through.

Up or down? Down 

RORY STEWART 

Best moment: Branded the social care system a ‘disgrace’ and a ‘scandal’. ‘It’s the great unfinished revolution in our society.’

Worst moment: Ostentatiously taking off his tie and stretching. Bizarre.

Verdict: A bad night. Coming under fire from other candidates for the first time, he struggled. Has the Rory bubble burst?

Up or down? Down

MICHAEL GOVE 

Best moment: Took apart Rory Stewart’s Brexit plan with a single line. ‘We can’t simply re-present the same old cold porridge and ask people to say that’s what they want.’

Worst moment: Struggled to explain his policy of scrapping VAT and replacing it with a sales tax.

Verdict: Articulate, intelligent and impassioned. Had a good night, but will it turn the dial?

Up or down? Up

SAJID JAVID 

Best moment: Hammered Rory Stewart on his failure to criticise President Trump.

Worst moment: Trying to explain how money would solve Brexit problems at the Irish border.

Verdict: Comfortably had the best night. More composed, coherent and passionate than before. But is it too late?

Up or down? Up

 

 

 

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