Jenrick frontrunner in Tory leadership contest as Patel eliminated in first round
Robert Jenrick has emerged as the frontrunner in the Conservative Party leadership race after comfortably coming top in the first round of voting.
Dame Priti Patel became the first candidate to be eliminated after getting the fewest votes from fellow Tory MPs, leaving five still in the race.
Mr Jenrick, the former immigration minister, got the backing of 28 Tory MPs, with Kemi Badenoch, the former business secretary, in second on 22.
James Cleverly, the former foreign secretary, won 21 votes.
Tom Tugendhat, the shadow security minister, was on 17, just above Mel Stride, the former work and pensions secretary, on 16.
Dame Priti secured the support of just 14 Tory MPs – from a total of 121 – meaning she is out of the race at the first hurdle.
It comes as writing for The Telegraph, three first-time Tory MPs declare their support for Mr Tugendhat with a call for the party to move on from the “old guard”.
Patrick Spencer, Harriet Cross and Neil Shastri-Hurst – the new MPs for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, Gordon and Buchan, and Solihull West and Shirle respectively – frame Mr Tugendhat, 51, as a “fresh face” who can lead the party into the future.
They write: “As three Conservative MPs who won their seats despite Labour’s landslide victory, we know better than anyone that the party has to learn from the mistakes that were made and draw a clear and distinct line under the past.
“That is not to say we should forget the past, we have to learn from it.
“Our party is not only facing a leadership contest, but a leadership crisis.
“To ensure a decisive break from the old guard, we need a fresh face and true conservative leadership at the helm of our party.
“The public were fed up with our party, but they were not fed up with our policies.
“The next leader must therefore be someone able to reform the party, rebuild our reputation with the public, and present a radical conservative choice to the electorate at the next general election.
“After five years of Labour chaos, this is the leadership our nation will not just need but crave.”
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The intervention comes as one of the key dynamics playing out in the race is how highly government experience should be valued.
Mr Cleverly, 55, held two great offices of state – the Foreign Office and the Home Office. Dame Priti, 52, is a former home secretary.
A newer generation of Tories – Mr Jenrick, 42, Mrs Badenoch, 44, and Mr Tugendhat – are seeking to turn their lack of more senior ministerial roles into a strength.
Mr Tugendhat, who had been a soldier before entering politics, only joined the government benches in 2022 when he became security minister.
Dame Priti bowed out with a plea to respect party members, saying: “We must grow our membership and reach a new, younger audience if we are to be successful in the future.”
She said: “I’ve enjoyed spending the summer with thousands of so many of our dedicated and hard-working party members.
“The support and affection they have shown me over the summer has been heartwarming and truly humbling, and I am grateful to everyone who has supported, worked on or volunteered for my campaign.
“I have placed party reform at the heart of my pitch for the leadership of the Conservative and Unionist Party and did that for a reason.”
After paying tribute to Tory members, councillors and association officers as “the heart and soul of our party”, and insisting the party must grow its membership and reach a younger voter base, the senior Conservative MP said: “I wish my fellow candidates well with the rest of the leadership campaign and thank them for the good-spirited debated we have had.
“To win back the trust of the British people, we must unite around our Conservative values and show how they can offer solutions to the challenges our country faces.”
Mr Cleverly posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Momentum is on our side, but the work continues.”
A scramble to secure Dame Priti’s endorsement by the other candidates is now set to take place behind the scenes. She did not back a leadership rival in her defeat statement.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the first round of voting was the size of Mr Jenrick’s lead – six votes – over his rival Mrs Badenoch, who had widely been seen as the frontrunner.
The betting markets on Wednesday evening after the vote had Mr Jenrick as narrow favourite, with odds slightly better than Mrs Badenoch, the shadow communities secretary.
A Jenrick ally said: “To get to the final two, you need 41 votes. After today’s result, while you can never take anything for granted, Rob’s path to that looks pretty rock solid.”
Mr Jenrick has positioned himself to the right of the field, standing out with a promise to leave the European Convention of Human Rights and to cap annual net migration below 100,000.
Mrs Badenoch has vowed to lead a “renewal” agenda for 2030, when the party hopes to be back in power, and stressed the need for deep thinking about how to reform.
A source in Mrs Badenoch’s camp had predicted that Mr Jenrick would be ahead in the first round before the result, arguing that Mr Jenrick and Dame Priti were splitting the vote on the Right while the four other candidates were competing for the backing of centrist Tory MPs.
But that leaves Mr Jenrick well placed to pick up votes in the second round next week, when Dame Priti’s supporters will need to choose someone else to back.
Mr Tugendhat said his leadership rivals were “all friends” but he believed he was the only candidate who could “deliver the Conservative revolution that our party and our nation need”.
Andrew Griffith, the shadow technology minister who is backing Mrs Badenoch, said: “At this point in the cycle, you often see people come through and gather support and momentum, and it seems to me Kemi’s got that momentum.”
The five surviving candidates will now face a second vote on Tuesday next week, with Mr Stride and Mr Tugendhat appearing most at risk, according to the first round vote tallies.
The successful quartet will then make their case to Tory members at the party’s annual conference in Birmingham at the end of the month.
Tory MPs will then vote again between Oct 9-10 to eliminate two more candidates, leaving a final duo who will face a ballot of Conservative members.
Member voting will close at 5pm on Oct 31 and Rishi Sunak’s replacement will then be announced on Nov 2.
