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Brexit live: Tory party leadership first-round result expected soon Brexit live: Theresa May wins first round of Tory party leadership election
(35 minutes later)
6.19pm BST 6.54pm BST
18:19 18:54
In the Liverpool Committee room with members of the press and Tory MPs waiting for the result of 1st round of leadership contest. This is from ITVs’ Adrian Masters.
6.17pm BST A Conservative MP suggested to me earlier that most, if not all, Crabb supporters wd back Theresa May if he were to withdraw from the race
18:17 6.54pm BST
We're filing into ctte room 6 for result of 1st ballot in Tory l'ship contest. Evidently Graham Brady will take 36 secs to read result 18:54
6.16pm BST This is from BuzzFeed’s Jim Waterson.
18:16 Leadsom supporters terrified other MPs (ie May supporters) will now move to stop her reaching the final two by voting tactically for Gove.
A very relaxed and smiling Andrea Leadsom sitting on the terrace in parliament this evening. Should get that ballot result in 15 mins-ish. 6.52pm BST
6.13pm BST 18:52
18:13 This is from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.
Confirmed. David Cameron did *not* vote in the ballot to choose his successor Leadsom's team still buoyant, they believe govt whips been colluding to stop her
6.12pm BST 6.49pm BST
18:12 18:49
Nick Boles, who is campaigning for Gove, cast Sir Nicholas Soames' proxy vote for May, came out to prove it This is from Newsnight’s Nicholas Watt.
6.10pm BST After @andrealeadsom 2nd place @PennyMordauntMP tells me: the momentum is with Andrea, a contest between her and @TheresaMay2016 exciting
18:10 Team @andrealeadsom thought they had 65 votes in the bag. Went one better to 66
There are 330 Tory MPs. 6.47pm BST
If the Sky tally (see 6.01pm) is right, there are 108 MPs who have not declared. So that means the actual figures will be quite different. 18:47
6.10pm BST May say she is the only person who can unite the party
18:10 Here is Theresa May’s statement on the result.
Rajeev Syal I am pleased with this result, and very grateful to my colleagues for their support today.
Sources close to Tom Watson said the Labour deputy leader’s talks with Len McCluskey are over for today.But Watson has agreed to clear his diary for the rest of the week in order to meet with other union general secretaries to continue discussions about a “negotiated settlement” over Labour’s “impasse”. There is a big job before us: to unite our party and the country, to negotiate the best possible deal as we leave the EU, and to make Britain work for everyone.
6.01pm BST I am the only candidate capable of delivering these three things as prime minister, and tonight it is clear that I am also the only one capable of drawing support from the whole of the Conservative party.
18:01 I look forward to continuing the debate about Britain’s future - in parliament and across the country.
Here is a Sky News tally of how many Tory MPs have declared for each candidate from earlier today. 6.46pm BST
Latest Sky figures #ConservativeLeadership MAY:122CRABB:25GOVE:27FOX:8LEADSOM:40 18:46
And here is a Guido Fawkes tally. Tory election results - 4 things we've learnt
#ToryLeadership DeclarationsTheresa May - 110Andrea Leadsom - 40Michael Gove - 25Stephen Crabb - 22Liam Fox - 8Undeclared - 125 Here are some snap observations on the result.
5.57pm BST 1) Theresa May’s lead is so big as to raise questions about how viable it would be to elect anyone else as leader. She has won the backing of 50% of Tory MPs, and is bound to pick up more support as the voting goes on. (For example, we heard Ken Clarke say today that he would vote for Stephen Crabb before switching to May.)
17:57 2) Stephen Crabb may come under pressure to drop out. He got twice as many votes as Liam Fox, but it is hard to see any of the Fox votes going to him and so there is a chance that, if he stays in the ballot, he could see his vote share fall on Thursday - which would be embarrasing.
In the past the results of ballots of Tory MPs have been announced off camera. But tonight a film crew is being admitted into the committee room where the count is taking place to record Graham Brady announcing the result. 3) Michael Gove seems to have little chance of catching Andrea Leadsom. Like Liam Fox he is a hawkish leaver, but even if all the Fox votes were to go to him (quite a big if) he would still not have as many votes as Andrea Leadsom. He has indicated that he won’t drop out, but it is not as if he has not U-turned already quite dramatically in this contest.
5.55pm BST 4) It is almost inevitable that the contest will end up with the party members having to decide between May and Leadsom. Leadsom’s performance was better than many people expected, and it will probably quash any speculation about whether she should stand aside to allow May to become prime minister without a membership ballot.
17:55 6.31pm BST
Tory leadership result announced shortly 18:31
The Conservative leadership ballot closes at 6pm. May wins easily with backing of 50% of Tory MPs - and Fox drops out
The votes will be counted immediately, and Graham Brady, chair of the backbench 1922 committee, is expected to announce the results at about 6.30pm. Here are the results. Theresa May has won the backing of 50% of Tory MPs.
The candidate who comes last drops out, and the others can all go into the next ballot, on Thursday. But it is possible that other candidates could drop out too. Liam Fox drops out.
Theresa May - 165
Andrea Leadsom - 66
Michael Gove - 48
Stephen Crabb - 34
Liam Fox - 16
Updated
at 6.31pm BST
6.28pm BST
18:28
Expect an announcement in c10 mins. This is only to eliminate one contender today, almost certainly Fox, but others may withdraw if do badly
6.28pm BST
18:28
So @TheresaMay2016 poised to get the highest first ballot total of Tory MPs since Major in '95 - really Major 1990 pic.twitter.com/u9TH6NR9Rg
6.27pm BST
18:27
Only two cabinet ministers here so far for #ToryLeadership announcement (Rudd, Morgan). How many of these backbenchers will enter cabinet?
6.27pm BST
18:27
None of the candidates in Ctte Rm 6 for Graham Brady announcement of 1st round Tory leadership ballot result but plenty of their supporters.
6.27pm BST
18:27
Tory leadership campaign teams have been called in to hear the result of the first ballot. Tory MPs waiting outside
6.25pm BST
18:25
Here is the ConservativeHome tally of how many MPs have declared publicly for each candidate.
Our updated tally of Leadership Race endorsements: May 140Leadsom 42Gove 27Crabb 22 Fox 7 https://t.co/mCYnELu8kL
6.24pm BST
18:24
Nicky Morgan has arrived for Michael Gove. IDS and @PennyMordauntMP are here for team Leadsom. #yplive