Mel Stride out of Tory race

MEL Stride was eliminated from the Tory leadership race yesterday in the second and last round of voting before the four remaining candidates head into the party's conference.

- Christian Calgie

Robert Jenrick maintained his lead in first place, increasing his supporters to 33, with Kemi Badenoch second on 28.

Mr Stride, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, came in last place with 16 MPs backing him, having failed to garner any further support from last week's ballot. He finished behind Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly, two centrist candidates, who tied on 21 MP backers each.

The final four will take their arguments to the party's Birmingham conference in a fortnight, where they will hope to build momentum by wooing the membership.

They will then return to Parliament for a final vote on October 9 and 10, when MPs will whittle the number down to a final two.

They will then be put to a ballot of party members, who will vote until October 31. Rishi Sunak's replacement will then be announced on November 2.