The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Stewart and Javid insist they can remain in race
Front-runner Johnson boosted by the support of former contender
Tory leadership hopefuls Rory Stewart and Sajid Javid believe they have the required number of supporters to survive today’s second round of voting.
Mr Stewart managed to secure just 19 votes in the first ballot and Mr Javid had 23, with 33 required to stay in the race after the second vote.
But they told journalists at a special hustings in Westminster that they were confident of remaining in the contest to be the next prime minister.
They are a long way short of frontrunner Boris Johnson, who picked up 114 votes last week and has since been boosted by the support of former leadership contender Matt Hancock.
Former foreign secretary Mr Johnson did not appear at the hustings event for political journalists and was notably absent from the first TV debate on Channel 4 on Sunday.
But his campaign continued to gain ground with the support of Mr Hancock, which came as a blow to Environment Secretary Michael Gove, who had courted his endorsement.
At the hustings, Mr Stewart said he had the necessary 33 backers to make it through the second round of voting in the contest “if they do what they say”.
The International Development Secretary suggested he was the one to beat Mr Johnson and accused the former foreign secretary of making different promises to different MPs.
“Who is going to be nimble enough, who has the style, who has the approach, who has the way of dealing with the public? I don’t think the answer is going to be pre-scripted answers,” he said.
Home Secretary Mr Javid said he was “extremely confident” of getting the required 33 votes. “If we don’t get change, people will vote for change in the form of Jeremy Corbyn,” he said.
Meanwhile, current number two Jeremy Hunt stood out as the only candidate to endorse US President Donald Trump’s retweet of comments attacking London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The Foreign Secretary said he agreed “150%” with the “sentiment” of the Katie Hopkins’ comment about “Londonistan” retweeted by the president, despite it being labelled racist.
Mr Stewart tweeted: “I 100% disagree with both the language and the sentiment of the last sentence of this tweet.”
Mr Javid called the comments “unbecoming”, Michael Gove said they were “a mistake” and Dominic Raab called them “not helpful”.
In a dig at front-runner Mr Johnson’s non-appearance, former Brexit secretary Mr Raab used his hustings slot to describe the event as an “essential gauntlet” to be run.
Environment Secretary Mr Gove focused on the Labour leader, claiming he is the only Tory leadership candidate able to “strike fear” into the heart of Jeremy Corbyn.
Mr Johnson chose to use his column in The Daily Telegraph to announce plans to extend full-fibre broadband to every home in the country within five years, nine years ahead of the government’s 2033 target.