We now know the final two in the race to succeed Rishi Sunak as Tory party leader - who is the favourite?
MPs have decided the final two candidates in the race to succeed Rishi Sunak as Tory party leader.
In a shock result, it was the favourite James Cleverly who fell at the penultimate hurdle, following Tom Tugendhat who was knocked out of the race yesterday.
In Tuesday's round, Tugendhat had received 20 votes, 10 short of third placed Kemi Badenoch who entered today alongside Robert Jenrick (31 votes) and the firm favourite with the bookmakers, James Cleverly, who had reinforced his position at the head of the market with 39 votes.
However, it was Cleverly who fell short with 37 of the 120 votes today, leaving Badenoch (42 votes) and Jenrick (41 votes) as the only two left standing. Between the two, the leadership will now go to a vote by party membership over the next three weeks.
The new Tory leader will be announced on 2nd November.
Next Conservative Leader Odds
Below you can see the next Tory leader odds as of 16:00 on Wednesday 9th October.
| Next Conservative Leader | Best Odds | Worst Odds |
|---|---|---|
| Kemi Badenoch | 4/7 | 1/3 |
| Robert Jenrick | 2/1 | 6/4 |
Tory Leadership Contest
It was thought that the fight for the final two would go down to which of Jenrick or Badenoch could attract more of the fallen Tugendhat’s voters. With 39 votes, Cleverly had been just one short of the magic 40 mark (121 remaining MPs) needed to guarantee his place.
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So it comes as a huge suprise that Cleverly lost votes in the last 24 hours, leaving the floor to Badenoch and Jenrick, who had been the big drifter in the last 24 hours after a pretty stable week at the Party Conference despite some backlash over his recent SAS comments.
Now the favourite, it was Badenoch who had endured the bumpiest Party Conference having become embroiled in a row over maternity pay. She is now as short as 1/3 but a best price 4/7 on BoyleSports.
