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Tory leadership race: Stewart out as Johnson extends lead Tory leadership race: Stewart out as Johnson extends lead
(about 2 hours later)
Rory Stewart has been ousted from the Conservative leadership contest after losing 10 votes from Conservative MPs since the last round of voting and being leapfrogged by Sajid Javid who clung on to stay in the race. Rory Stewart has been ousted from the Conservative leadership contest after losing 10 votes since the last round, sparking MPs’ speculation that Boris Johnson’s operatives may have previously pushed fellow supporters to vote for the outsider to help eliminate his Brexiter rival Dominic Raab.
The frontrunner, Boris Johnson, substantially increased his tally to 143 votes, almost three times the number of his closest rivals Jeremy Hunt (54) and Michael Gove (51). Stewart was leapfrogged by Sajid Javid, who increased his support by five votes to stay in the race. The home secretary’s team insisted the momentum was now with him as the insurgent after his defeated rival underperformed in the TV hustings on Tuesday night.
“Saj has always had a funny habit of defying the odds,” one campaign ally said.
One former cabinet minister denied Raab had been the victim of a plot, but conceded that Johnson’s right-hand man, Gavin Williamson, may have “bullied a few weak souls into transferring their allegiance” in order to knock the former Brexit secretary out of the race.
Stewart said he would not dwell on how he had lost the votes. “All sorts of things might be happening in strange secret ballots,” he said. “But in the end the question for our country is bigger than that.”
Williamson, the former defence secretary and chief whip, has been one of the key whips for Johnson’s campaign.
In the third round of voting on Wednesday, Johnson substantially increased his tally to 143 votes, almost three times the number of his closest rivals Jeremy Hunt (54) and Michael Gove (51).
Rory Stewart knocked out of Tory leadership contest in third round - live newsRory Stewart knocked out of Tory leadership contest in third round - live news
Stewart, who ran an insurgent campaign buoyed by support on social media, tweeted that he was “so moved and inspired by the support I have received over the last few weeks – it has given me a new faith in politics, a new belief in our country. I didn’t get enough MPs to believe today – but they will. I remain deeply committed to you and to this country.” Backers of Raab, the former Brexit secretary, flocked almost en masse to Johnson on Wednesday. Raab endorsed Johnson in the morning and by the time voting had begun at 3pm, 14 of his 30 supporters had declared for Johnson.
Backers of Dominic Raab, the former Brexit secretary who was eliminated from the race on Tuesday night, flocked almost en masse to Johnson. Raab endorsed the former foreign secretary on Wednesday morning and by the time voting had begun at 3pm, 14 of his 30 supporters had declared for Johnson. One of Raab’s former supporters insisted Stewart’s performance in the BBC hustings had been his downfall, rather than any dark arts of a leadership rival. “Colleagues were interested in putting him through to the debate to see him take on Boris. But he admits he made a mistake, he tried to act the statesman, he didn’t go for Boris,” the MP said.
Hunt’s backers had been playing down expectations about how far the foreign secretary would advance, believing he would be unable to attract Raab’s former supporters. In the end, he kept his spot in second place. Another former minister confided he had backed Stewart in the last round to see him take on Johnson, but had then switched to support Gove.
In the parliamentary corridor outside the voting room, Javid’s backers were keen to appear buoyant to waiting journalists, with his close ally Robert Halfon expressing confidence. An ally of Stewart said the international development secretary had been torn over text messages he had received from fellow MPs asking him to tone down his attacks, causing him to doubt his strategy.
Stewart, who was ubiquitous in the corridor in the earlier rounds, was initially absent. One report said he was in the MPs’ tearoom, promoting speculation he was trying to drum up last-minute support. Stewart publicly admitted his performance in the BBC debate, in which candidates often talk over each other in a battle for airtime, had not been sure-footed.
Rumours had swirled in Westminster that a Stop Rory operation was underway to stop the international development secretary progressing any further, because of concerns he was prompting too many blue-on-blue attacks. After his elimination, Stewart tweeted that he was “so moved and inspired by the support I have received over the last few weeks – it has given me a new faith in politics, a new belief in our country. I didn’t get enough MPs to believe today – but they will. I remain deeply committed to you and to this country.”
Heading into the voting room, Stewart hinted to reporters he was concerned that backers of Johnson may lend their votes to Javid in order to push him out of the contest, something Javid’s camp has denied. Brexiters were gleeful about Stewart’s ousting. Andrew Bridgen said: “It is reassuring that there are just 27 of my colleagues who are completely bonkers.”
Earlier, Stewart had suggested he was in discussions with Gove’s camp over potentially combining forces as a way to ensure one of them reached the final stage of the Conservative leadership contest. His backers then had to hastily point out that Stewart had meant to suggest he would lead any combined effort, not Gove. Javid, Gove and Hunt will be keen to gain Stewart’s supporters. Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary who is backing Hunt, hosted a dinner on Wednesday night for the One Nation group of Tory moderates, of which Stewart is a founder member.
Both men have significantly different Brexit policies but Stewart said both agreed on the need to challenge Johnson in the next round. Hunt’s team underlined that their candidate would be prepared to give Johnson a hard time in the final rounds. “If colleagues choose Jeremy, he will put his heart and soul into giving Boris the contest of his life,” a spokesman said. “The stakes are too high to allow anyone to sail through untested.”
Johnson’s lead increased significantly on Tuesday’s vote when he only managed to gain 12 extra votes. However, key members of the European Research Group of hard Brexiter Tory MPs have begun issuing coded warnings to the frontrunner about the limits of their support. Javid’s team insisted he would not be pulling out of the race, and denied he had borrowed votes to oust Stewart. “Saj has never borrowed anything from anybody,” said one adviser.
Members of the group were alarmed by Johnson’s refusal to be drawn on offering any guarantee of the UK leaving the EU on 31 October beyond saying it was “eminently feasible”. His team plans to woo Stewart’s supporters by stressing their common characteristics and the home secretary was the first to praise his rival after the results came in.
“Rory acts differently, talks differently, speaks to different audiences, and that’s a message that he and Saj absolutely share,” the source said. “As we move forward into tomorrow we think we can talk to those MPs. Saj has been written off his entire life, but we think we can do it again.”
Hunt’s backers had been playing down expectations about how far the foreign secretary would advance, believing he would be unable to attract Raab’s former supporters. In the end, he kept his spot in second place but still attracted less support than Gove, who won 10 extra supporters to Hunt’s eight.
Johnson added 17 more MPs to his tally. However, key members of the European Research Group (ERG) of hard Brexiter Tory MPs have begun issuing coded warnings to the frontrunner about the limits of their support.
Members of the group were reportedly alarmed by Johnson’s refusal to be drawn on offering any guarantee of the UK leaving the EU on 31 October beyond saying it was “eminently feasible”.
His evasiveness was highlighted by Hunt, who told the BBC on Wednesday: “Boris has made a big play of saying we’ll leave, deal or no deal, on October 31. Yesterday, frankly, he suggested he wouldn’t be so absolute in that,” Hunt said. “I’m not entirely sure what he believes on this.”His evasiveness was highlighted by Hunt, who told the BBC on Wednesday: “Boris has made a big play of saying we’ll leave, deal or no deal, on October 31. Yesterday, frankly, he suggested he wouldn’t be so absolute in that,” Hunt said. “I’m not entirely sure what he believes on this.”
One prominent Brexiter, when asked what would happen to Johnson if he reneged on his pledge to Eurosceptics that the UK would be out by 31 October, said: “The same thing that happened to Theresa May – only a lot quicker.” Johnson’s backers, including Liz Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury, and Steve Baker, the deputy chair of the ERG, insisted in broadcast interviews and on social media that they had guarantees the UK would exit by that date.
Johnson’s rivals have openly questioned how he can be keeping the support of soft-Brexit Tories, including the health secretary, Matt Hancock, and the former deputy prime minister Damian Green, as well as no-deal Eurosceptics, such as Mark Francois and Steve Baker. One prominent Brexiter, when asked what would happen to Johnson if he reneged on his pledge that the UK would be out by 31 October, said: “The same thing that happened to Theresa May – only a lot quicker.”
Conservative MPs will vote on again on Thursday morning and if necessary a second ballot will be held that afternoon to deliver the final two candidates who will go on to the ballot paper to Conservative members. Johnson’s rivals have openly questioned how he can be keeping the support of soft-Brexit Tories, including the health secretary, Matt Hancock, and the former deputy prime minister Damian Green, as well as no-deal Eurosceptics, such as Baker and Mark Francois.
Conservative MPs will vote again on Thursday morning and, if necessary, in the afternoon to deliver the final two candidates who will go on to the ballot paper to Conservative members.
Conservative leadershipConservative leadership
Boris JohnsonBoris Johnson
Sajid JavidSajid Javid
Rory StewartRory Stewart
Jeremy HuntJeremy Hunt
Michael GoveMichael Gove
ConservativesConservatives
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