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Former Conservative leadership candidate Mel Stride is set to throw his backing behind James Cleverly on Monday evening, in a boost to the ex-home secretary’s bid to replace Rishi Sunak, according to party figures.
The expected endorsement will come hours before Tory MPs vote on Tuesday to eliminate one of the four remaining contenders from the race. They will vote out another candidate on Wednesday, with Conservative members being balloted in a run-off between the final two names later this month.
Cleverly came joint third with ex-security minister Tom Tugendhat in the second round of voting last month. That ballot saw former immigration minister Robert Jenrick in pole position with ex-business secretary Kemi Badenoch in second place.
However, Cleverly picked up momentum during the party’s annual conference in Birmingham last week, after swerving any gaffes and giving a strong performance in his keynote speech. Jenrick and Badenoch saw their conference appearances overshadowed by controversial comments, which may have dented their appeal with colleagues and party members.
Stride, who was knocked out in the second-round ballot, was a staunch supporter of Sunak and is seen as a senior centrist Tory. The backing will be another welcome boost for Cleverly, but may cement in the minds of MPs and members the sense that he is a moderate Tory in a party that is feeling threatened by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Former home secretary Priti Patel, the leadership candidate who was knocked out of the race first, has so far declined to offer her public support to any of the remaining candidates.
These have sought to project upward momentum for their campaigns with a series of high-profile endorsements in recent days.
Badenoch won the backing of Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida at the weekend. The ex-US presidential hopeful said she would be an inspiration for conservatives “across the world”.
Earlier on Monday Andy Street, the former Tory mayor of the West Midlands, said Tugendhat best embodied “a moderate, inclusive brand of Conservatism” that “focuses on real societal issues, not ideology”.
Jenrick’s campaign is so confident of reaching the final two that it is saving significant endorsements until the back end of this week, according to one person familiar with his thinking, after MPs have knocked out two of the current contenders. Jenrick is planning a big speech in central London on Thursday in expectation of making the run-off.
At the weekend a survey of members by the ConservativeHome grassroots website suggested that Cleverly had leapfrogged Jenrick among the party faithful. However, it found that Kemi Badenoch remained in first position.
On Monday, the candidates used a debate in the House of Commons on the government’s decision to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius to flaunt their patriotic credentials.
Jenrick accused foreign secretary David Lammy of having “handed sovereign British territory to a small island nation which is an ally of China” in order to “feel good about himself at his next north London dinner party”.
Tugendhat accused the government of “undermining the rights of the Chagossian people” with the deal. He has previously criticised Cleverly, who began negotiations with Mauritius when he was foreign secretary under Liz Truss in 2022.
On Monday, Lammy insisted the deal was “strongly supported by partners” and secured the future of a UK-US military base situated on Diego Garcia, a strategically important asset.