IT’S FIRST BLOOD TO THERESA
May storms ahead backed by 165 MPs. Leadsom’s in second place but is there a plot to sabotage her?
THERESA May last night declared herself the only candidate capable of reuniting Britain after she won the support of more than half of Tory MPs.
The Home Secretary secured 165 votes – almost 100 more than Andrea Leadsom, her nearest rival in the leadership race.
The pair are now favourites to make an all-female shortlist for the final vote by Conservative Party members.
In a major coup, Mrs May immediately picked up the support of defeated leadership contenders, Liam Fox and Stephen Crabb.
The intrigue at Westminster now centres on whether Mrs Leadsom or Michael Gove will grab second place behind Mrs May in Thursday’s decisive ballot of MPs.
Tory grandees fear Mrs Leadsom is too inexperienced to be PM but could prove a dangerous candidate if she finishes in the top two.
With Mrs May holding all the cards, Mrs Leadsom’s backers now fear the Home Secretary’s supporters might conspire to keep her off the final ballot by lending votes to Mr Gove. This idea was dismissed
by the May camp, which insisted MPs backing her had been told explicitly not to vote tactically. Her supporters also insisted that – despite being endorsed by more than 50 per cent of MPs – there should be no ‘coronation’.
Mr Gove, scoring 48 votes, was left facing a 36-hour battle to save his leadership hopes. His senior supporters immediately turned their fire on the lack of experience of Mrs Leadsom, a junior energy minister who has 66 votes.
They said the country needed a contest between two genuine Cabinet ‘heavyweights’.
Some senior Government figures say that – at a time of huge post-Brexit uncertainty – it would be better to get a new leader in place now, rather than hold a vote of party members lasting until September 9.
Former Tory minister Edwina Currie urged Mrs May’s rivals to drop out. She said: ‘Once upon a time they’d have quit gracefully. The country needs effective government, now.’
However, Mrs May’s aides say she is determined to let the party’s 150,000 members have their say.
Late last night Business Secretary Sajid Javid threw his weight behind her candidacy. He had been backing Mr Crabb.
The result – which eliminated right-winger Dr Fox and triggered Mr Crabb’s voluntary withdrawal – guarantees an MP who voted for Brexit will be on the ticket alongside Mrs May.
If Mrs Leadsom can hold off the challenge of Mr Gove for second, it will also ensure Britain gets its second female prime minister. In a statement last night, Mrs May said: ‘There is a big job before us: to unite our party and the country, to negotiate the best possible deal as we leave the EU, and to make Britain work for everyone.
‘I am the only candidate capable of delivering these three things as prime minister, and tonight it is clear that I am also the only one capable of drawing support from the whole of the Conservative Party.
‘I look forward to continuing the debate about Britain’s future – in Parliament and across the country.’
Mr Crabb told Sky News: ‘It is important to recognise that there is only one candidate in any kind of position to unite our party and provide the strong cohesive government that is needed at this very serious time. That candidate is Theresa May.’
The social justice campaigner said he had met Mrs May after the result: ‘I congratulated Theresa. I asked for nothing, she offered nothing. I am going to give Theresa my wholehearted support.’
Mr Gove has been under huge pressure at Westminster since his decision last Thursday to knife his friend Boris Johnson and run for the leadership himself.
The 48 votes he collected were more than had been pre- dicted, but he faces an uphill battle to close the gap on Mrs Leadsom.
His allies had hoped to pick up the backing of Mr Crabb but, in a statement shortly after 8pm, he instead joined the May camp. Mr Gove’s friends insisted it was ‘game on’.
MPs are due to hold a final round of hustings today. At Monday night’s hustings, Mrs Leadsom was said to have had a ‘car crash’, talking about the need to massage baby’s brains.
Her supporters insisted she was now the candidate with momentum.
The May camp denied it had any preference and that she wanted to win the contest without resorting to any political games.
Amber Rudd, the Energy Secretary who is backing Mrs May, knifed her departmental junior. She said of Mrs Leadsom: ‘You don’t need a novice right now.’
Last night ex-Cabinet minister Owen Patterson – a Leadsom supporter – said ‘shenanigans and tactical voting’ would go down very badly in the country, which wanted a straight fight between the two best candidates.
Backing Mrs May, Dr Fox stressed the ‘need for experience as the successful candidate will have to take up the reins of government in less than nine weeks’.