Tory leadership race: James Cleverly knocked out - leaving Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch in final two

[IwantToRetire]

There is shock and surprise after the former foreign secretary, who catapulted ahead after Tory conference, is eliminated from the contest.

Tory MPs held a final vote on Wednesday to reduce the field to a final two, who will then go to a ballot of Conservative members.

After picking up 42 votes in the final round of voting, Ms Badenoch re-established herself as the favourite after lagging behind in previous rounds.

Robert Jenrick, her close rival on the right, picked up one vote shy of Ms Badenoch, while Mr Cleverly - who was seen as a unifying candidate - won the backing of 37 MPs.

More at https://news.sky.com/story/tory-leadership-race-james-cleverly-knocked-out-leaving-robert-jenrick-and-kemi-badenoch-as-final-two-facing-party-membership-vote-13230871

There is also shock and surprise (me) at this remarkably attack-free positioning by the BBC of Kemi Badenoch:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0g15y2ln3o.amp

Surely they're missing another opportunity to have a dig at her? Obviously the BBC hasn't ever gone full Tennant and said that the world would be better if she didn't exist, but they've definitely called her a "little whingeing f*cker" previously in relation to how she address gender identity issues, albeit without those exact words.

Seems to put the lie to the idea, popular among some posters, that MPs hate KB?

I don't like any of them. And Badenoch is fine on GC but her other ideas are not particularly women friendly, if her comments on maternity pay mean anything.

They are all awful.
KB laughs about poverty and wants to stop or decrease maternity pay.
JC is a known liar with an equal lack of empathy for anyone who is struggling. Remember how he denied calling Stockton on Tees a shithole in parliament when the Stockton mp was talking about child poverty? JC was actually caught on camera but still tried to weasel and bluff his way out of it.
RJ is a treacherous idiot who wants to take us out of the court of human rights.
None of them would be a safe leader if the conservatives get into government in the future.

This is probably where my thoughts on her land.

However, as the leader of the opposition she could do some great stuff on a) calling out the impact of the enforced belief in gender identity and b) calling out the throttling of free speech e.g. the current "hate crime" and "non-crime hate incidents", the stopping of the Free Speech Act from its progression in to law and the potentially forthcoming Online Hate Act - all with specific relation to point a.

We're years off a new government and I would value her knowledge and clear articulation on the above. As the Tories are no longer in government and we're nowhere near an election she can also now go further and talk about the impact of the GRA relating to enforced belief too. I suspect she's been biting her tongue on that bit.

Have they covered RJ?

I wonder if they are a bit softer on KB as in five years we may be in a different place re border control and there are limited ways to deal with that

I'm personally amused by the possibility of it being the Conservatives electing the UK's first black female leader of a major party.

Quite! What a bunch of right wing bigots they are. Oh.. wait.

This was the article specifically on him a few days ago:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj04enrz02mo.amp

(Edited to add: that thumbnail photo reminds me of King George practising his speech techniques with the Shakespeare actors in Blackadder 3rd, if anyone remembers that episode 😁)

@BonfireLady when Teresa May & Co were doing that ‘standing with legs apart’ thing at their Tory party conference a few years ago, I did think of Prince George and his manly posing in Blackadder 😂

I didn't see the original, but someone posted that with the current whohaha about undeclared gifts a labour MP said do we declare the Tories voting out Cleverly as a gift?

He's the only one I half liked so I tend to agree.

Oh God, please not KB. I don't know the other guy at all, but she is really, really right wing - extreme small state person. She would be an absolute disaster if the Tories ever got into power.

Yeah, as part of that she’d be committed to bashing the needy too. She’d stoop so low as to take away the winter fuel allowance from numb-fingered OAPs I reckon.

There's been quite a few articles about how this was an own goal by MPs, who didn't want KB amd thought ordinary members would vote her in.

They were so keen to not have KB that they did strategical voting, but didn't co-ordinate their strategies! https://news.sky.com/story/did-rogue-voting-and-botched-plot-by-mps-cost-cleverlys-shock-loss-in-tory-leadership-race-13231065

TV companies loved playing over and over again the shocked groans of MPs when the result was announed.

And now it seems the Tory membership is angry. Tory centrists warn they may bin leadership ballots (yahoo.com)

😂😂😂

Prince (Regent), not King, of course.

I wonder if KB is lurking here? If so, this one's for you**... "imagine your audience naked" can repurposed to calm any nerves by reframing such an opponent as less intimidating:

** FYI Kemi, I'm still a liberal Guardian reader at heart, so there is no way our politics line up. However, I would very much like to see you as leader of the opposition as I think you'd be excellent at it.

Edited for grammar/punctuation

I don’t get that. Surely the way not to get KB is to not vote for her at all

I don’t get that. Surely the way not to get KB is to not vote for her at all

I dont either. But the Telegraph suggested:

On Tuesday, Mr Cleverly won 39 votes – far ahead of any other candidate – but lost two votes to others in the fourth ballot.

Members of his campaign team said some of his supporters had, on their own initiative and working on the premise that Mr Cleverly was safe, decided to back Mr Jenrick in order to put him in second place and exclude Mrs Badenoch.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/09/james-cleverly-out-of-tory-race-tactical-voting/

I think 1/3 of the party are showing the reaction but 2/3 MPs were not in that direction

Robert Jenrick…..didn’t he break down lockdown rules?

Claimed 100k in expenses for a “third home”. Some sort of planning permission scandal as well?

csnt the tories find someone who isn’t as sleazy?

And this:

Robert Jenrick has admitted that he and a junior minister approved payments to towns in each other’s constituencies from a government fund earmarked for deprived areas.
The communities secretary confirmed that communities minister Jake Berrygave the go-ahead for Jenrick’s Newark constituency to be selected for a £25m fund award even though it was 270th on the list of the UK’s most deprived areas.

Jenrick said he signed off the decision for money to be allocated to Darwen, a town in Berry’s Rossendale and Darwen constituency.

That’s exactly what I was picturing 😂😂😍

She would be their 4th female leader as well. Labour only like white male leaders.

(Obviously I don't care about the colour or sex of MPs, the policies are the important thing)

A great observation.

Personally I thought Maggie Thatcher was pretty awful in general, Theresa May was OK (except for on the TWAW stuff) and Liz Truss was... odd (except for on the TWAW stuff). Still, it's good to see that the Tories can see beyond the narrow boundary of white male leaders, including of course their current male leader. Both parties have had their fair share of awful, OK, odd and good leaders. There's no such thing as perfect.

(Obviously I don't care about the colour or sex of MPs, the policies are the important thing)
Same.

Fourth female leader, second non-white leader....

One wonders when LP people will have to stop telling everyone the Tories are all racists and sexists.

They won't. They've got another few years to get their house in order at which point neither candidate will emerge as their leader, ostensibly contending for no.10 with Starmer. All this aside, the public just won't do it and they know it. Again, another few years to refurbish the house - new interiors pending.