Conservative leadership election: Theresa May’s backers ‘using dirty tricks to block Andrea Leadsom’

Under attack: Tory leadership candidate Andrea Leadsom, who came second to Theresa May in last night’s first ballot of Tory MPs
REUTERS
Joseph Watts6 July 2016
WEST END FINAL

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Backers of Tory leadership hopeful Andrea Leadsom today accused rivals of “dirty tricks” aimed at shutting their candidate out of the contest.

They warned that grassroots members and the wider public would not forgive the party if the leadership result was seen as a stitch-up.

It comes as Ms Leadsom faced a wave of attacks over her experience and views, as well as pressure over her pledge to review the £55 billion HS2 high-speed rail scheme.

The result of the first ballot of MPs last night saw Home Secretary Theresa May take 165 votes, with Ms Leadsom a distant second on 66 and Michael Gove on 48. It eliminated former defence secretary Liam Fox — who got 16 votes — while Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb withdrew after getting 34 and backed Mrs May as the only candidate who could “unite our party and form a cohesive and strong government”.

But Leadsom supporters claim a deal is being done to lend some of Ms May’s backers to Mr Gove to inflate his total and keep their candidate from reaching the final two who will be put to a vote of the members.

One Leadsom backer told the Standard: “There’s no doubt about dirty tricks. We’ve seen the conversations between people on Gove’s team and May’s team going on around the place.”

Frontrunner: Theresa May won most votes and received support from two leadership rivals in the opening round of the contest
Will Oliver/EPA

Ms May’s camp said there were no deals, while Mr Gove’s spokesman Dominic Raab said the claims were “desperate stuff”. Another Leadsom backer, Tim Loughton, said: “The membership will feel cheated if they are not given a genuine choice.”

Armed Forces Minister Penny Mordaunt, also supporting Ms Leadsom, said the public would not “forgive” the Conservatives for failing to put forward the best candidates.

She added: “I would say to all my colleagues...if you are voting for a candidate who you do not think is the best person to lead this country, you are doing something wrong.”

She went on to claim that allegations about Ms Leadsom’s career in financial services had been exaggerated and are “totally bogus.”

Leadsom supporters previously claimed her career had seen her running big teams and managing investments worth billions of pounds.

But former colleague Robert Stephens today claimed that in her ten years at Perpetual/Invesco Perpetual “she did not manage any teams, large or small, and she certainly did not manage any funds.”

Energy Minister Ms Leadsom has also faced accusations she flipped her position on Brexit to win support among the Tory membership and scrutiny of her previously expressed views on homosexuality.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin today defended HS2 as the “ most important infrastructure project of this generation”.

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