Rule change speeds up the leadership race

As many as seven of the original 13 candidates could be out of the running after revisions

‘We don’t want to quash ambition – but we also don’t want to overly encourage ambition either’

BRITAIN will have a new prime minister in the week starting Monday July 22 after the Conservatives tightened the rules for electing new leaders.

The party decided to make it more difficult for MPS to stand after 13 candidates put their names forward, attracted by the sole requirement of persuading just two Tory MPS – a proposer and seconder – to support them.

The contest had threatened to drag on for weeks because only the MP who came last in each round of voting was required to stand down. Under the new rules, any candidate wishing to stand now needs an extra six supporting MPS just to make it to the first round of voting next week.

MPS who fail to win the support of more than 16 MPS at the first round of voting and 32 MPS at the second round will have to concede.

Up to five rounds of voting are now planned between June 13 and 20, when two MPS will emerge to face a series of hustings and then a ballot of the party’s 160,000 members. A party source said “the process will be completed in the week commencing July 22”.

The increased threshold claimed immediate victims, with James Cleverly and Kit Malthouse, two rising star ministers, announcing that they were withdrawing their applications.

More MPS with marginal support are expected to stand down before nominations close at 5pm on Monday.

Explaining the changes, Nigel Evans, a senior 1922 Committee member, said: “We don’t want to quash ambition – but we also don’t want to overly encourage ambition either.”

THE long and unwieldy list of Conservative leadership challengers was rapidly shortening last night after the party tightened the selection rules.

The reforms, signed off by the party’s board last night, mean the Tories will have a new leader – and Britain a new prime minister – by the middle of July.

Any candidate wishing to stand now will need four times as many supporting MPS just to make it to the first round of voting next week. The threshold then increases as the list is whittled down to two.

The increased threshold claimed immediate victims, with James Cleverly and Kit Malthouse announcing the withdrawal of their applications to become Tory leader.

Pressure was growing on other candidates thought to be struggling to win support, including Mark Harper, Esther Mcvey and Sam Gyimah. Rory Stewart and Andrea Leadsom might also be forced to pull out.

On Monday a record 13 Tory MPS had put themselves up as candidates to replace Theresa May, who formally quits as leader on Friday. The sole criterion for standing was to be able to persuade two Tory MPS to become proposer and seconder. Under the changes, contenders will now need a proposer and seconder plus six other MPS.

Candidates who fail to win the support of 5 per cent of MPS – 16 in this Parliament – at the first round of voting on Thursday next week will be forced out. This threshold increases at the second ballot to 10 per cent of MPS.

More rounds of voting are planned for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the following week. A fifth round could take place on the final Thursday if more than two candidates remain. Nigel Evans, a senior member of the 1922 Committee which drew up the changes, said: “We don’t want to quash ambition but we also don’t want to overly encourage ambition either”.

Both Mr Cleverly and Mr Malthouse were deputy mayors to Boris Johnson, leading to speculation that they will back the former foreign secretary.

Mr Malthouse, a housing minister, said he was a “realist” and acknowledged there was an “appetite for this contest to be over quickly”.

He said he believed he “could make a real difference in delivering a Brexit that would command the support of the House of Commons”.

However, he added that he was a “realist”, and “as such, it seems right to me that I withdraw my candidature and wish those remaining the very best, always recognising there are going to be very challenging times ahead”.

Earlier, Mr Cleverly, a Brexit minister, said he had withdrawn because his fellow MPS were not comfortable with the idea of picking a “relatively new” colleague.

The MP for Braintree, first elected in 2015, concluded he was “highly unlikely” to reach the final two candidates to be chosen by MPS.

Mr Cleverly said: “I asked them to make a leap of faith, skip a generation and vote for a relatively new MP. It is clear that, despite much support, particularly from our party’s grassroots, MPS weren’t comfortable with such a move and it is highly unlikely I would progress.”

♦ Britain must become a world leader in communications and technology to beat Huawei and avoid dependency on foreign states, Matt Hancock, the Tory leadership candidate, will say today.

Calling on the UK to take on China as the dominant player in the global technology market, the Health Secretary will argue the case for a “British champion”. Amid the row over the involvement of the Chinese telecoms giant in the UK’S 5G network, Mr Hancock will warn against “simplistic answers” that ignore the need for Western companies to step up and compete.