Tory leadership election: Boost for Boris Johnson as Tories vote for new prime minister

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Boris Johnson today pulled further ahead in the battle for the Tory crown as voting began in the first round of the contest.

Two endorsements from Conservative MPs hailing his One Nation credentials gave the Boris bandwagon a boost, while a straw poll of grassroots Tories suggested he already commands more than half of their votes.

In a significant concession, Sir Oliver Letwin, the former Cabinet fixer and backer of Michael Gove’s campaign, admitted that the former London mayor was “clearly quite likely” to emerge as prime minister.

MPs gathered outside committee room 14 in the Commons well before voting began at 10am.

Boris Johnson leaves his home in London on Thursday
EPA

Second favourite Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, commented that it all “felt a bit like the morning of my wedding. Something big is going to change but don’t quite know how it will unfold”.

Asked by the Evening Standard whom she was backing, Theresa May smiled and replied: “That’s none of your business.” In other key developments as 10 candidates waited to hear which of them would be eliminated:

Channel 4 threatened to “empty chair” Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt if they snub the first of the possible TV debates, scheduled for Sunday night.

Only the two frontrunners have declined to give a promise to take part, although Mr Hunt’s team said he would “provided all candidates do it”. ITV News has secured pledges from all candidates for a head-to-head in July if they get to the final round.

Former No 10 policy aide George Freeman comes out for Health Secretary Matt Hancock in today’s Evening Standard, saying: “Brexit needs to be recast as a moment of inspiring national renewal and reform ... I’m voting for Matt Hancock today.” Previously he was reported to be backing Michael Gove.

Mr Hunt was backed by William Hague’s former Commons aide Keith Simpson and by Brexit-backing backbencher Royston Smith who called him “the best person to represent our country at home and abroad”. First in the queue outside room 14 was former health minister Steve Brine, with backbencher Sir Desmond Swayne behind him.

They exchanged greetings with Peter Bone, one of the tellers for the 1922 Committee, who remarked to Sir Desmond: “You’ve got changed.” The backbencher replied: “I thought it inappropriate to vote in tennis gear.”

Confirmed Tory Leadership Contenders - In pictures

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As a scrum of MPs and journalists assembled, an MP pleaded: “Let’s not have any barging.”

Esther McVey was the first leadership candidate to arrive. Asked by second teller Charlie Elphicke about her fall-out with her former TV presenter colleagues, she said: “It’s no surprise that telly is full of Lefties.”

Mr Hunt arrived alone, with Dominic Raab close behind. Home Secretary Sajid Javid left quickly after voting. Andrea Leadsom, one of those facing possible elimination, told the Standard: “I feel very optimistic.”

Environment Secretary Mr Gove, whose campaign suffered a bad wobble after he confessed to cocaine use 20 years ago, joked to the Standard that he voted “for the best candidate”.

Self-described Brexit Spartan Steve Baker joked, “All right, revolutionaries?” to the tellers.

A survey of backbenchers’ pin badges on their clothing suggested an early lead for Mr Johnson, with Mr Javid in second place.

Declaring for Mr Johnson just as the voting began, Andrew Percy, co-chairman of the Brexit Delivery Group, told the Standard that he was “the only candidate who can deliver Brexit on time” and had appeal across the board.

The second new endorsement was from Stephen McPartland, MP for Stevenage, a marginal seat held by Labour until 2010. He said the former foreign secretary would “lead from the centre of politics”.

Both MPs held up Mr Johnson as a champion of One Nation Conservatism who could unite Britain after Brexit.

A snap survey of readers by Conservative Home, whose views are widely seen as a litmus test of Tory grassroots opinion, found Mr Johnson achieving a record score of 54 per cent, up from 33 in May and 43 a week ago.

Editor Paul Goodman, a former MP, said: “Tory activists want Johnson as their next leader, and Conservative MPs are now likely to put him before them.”

At least one candidate will fall out of the race this afternoon. Those with the lowest number of votes are eliminated automatically.

In addition, each needs at least 17 votes to go through to the second round, with anyone below this threshold knocked out. A second ballot is scheduled for Tuesday June 18.

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