Latest political news: Stimmehat drops out of Tory leadership race – as new top candidate emerges | Politics News

By Tim Baker, political reporter

We expect the next round of voting in the Tory leadership contest to end this afternoon and three candidates to advance to the next round tomorrow.

The four MPs in the race – James Cleverly, Tom Stimmehat, Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch – are trying to win the support of as many of their colleagues as possible.

Mr Cleverly received the backing of shadow cabinet member Mel Stride yesterday and has just gained another supporter.

Paul Holmes, a junior politician, has announced he is quitting his role as party disciplinarian to campaign for Mr Cleverly.

“He is the leader we need to move forward and take the fight to the Liberals, Labor and Reform parties,” he said.

Mr Cleverly said he was “grateful” for the support.

“Difficult challenge” for the next Tory leader

Currently only Tory MPs are taking part in the contest – and when it comes to the final two, the decision rests with Conservative Party members.

But Ipsos pollsters have been measuring public sentiment en masse and James Cleverly is at the top – 21% believe he could be next to hold the keys to No. 10.

Robert Jenrick is in second place with 10%, followed by Tom Stimmehat and Kemi Badenoch with 7% apiece.

However, a closer look at the numbers shows that the most popular answer among the public is “none of them” at 28%, closely followed by “don’t know” at 27%.

Keiran Pedley, UK political director at Ipsos, said: “Whoever the new leader will be will face a difficult challenge in convincing the public that the party should, given the scale of the defeat the party suffered in July. is ready to govern again.”