Tom Tugendhat tied with James Cleverly at the back of the pack with 21 votes each, while Mel Stride was eliminated.
Mahima Abedin Rports
Mahima Abedin Rports
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00:00Mahima, you're staying dry and warm hopefully in what's been quite a stormy day both in the
00:04weather and politics wise. What can you tell us about the knockout stage?
00:11Hi Abi, yes as you said a very stormy day both in politics and here today. But what I can tell you
00:17is that Tom Tugendhat, one of Kent's only MPs running to be Tory leader, is through to the
00:22next stage and Mel Stride is out. The Tunbridge MP has tied with 21 votes, along with James
00:29Cleverley and I've been stood here outside of the Houses of Parliament where the action is taking
00:34place all day and let's just say it's been a very busy day throughout the day. Ballots have been
00:39passed and MPs have been trying to gather as much support as they can and of course we just found
00:44out not too long ago that Mel Stride has been kicked out having received 16 votes. Now it's
00:50round two of six for the race to be the leader of the Conservative Party. At the start of today
00:55there was five MPs running and now it's down to four but that includes Tunbridge's MP Tom Tugendhat
01:02and although he's at the back of the pack he's still in the race. So who are Kent's MPs supporting?
01:08Well what I can tell you is that we know that Katie Lamb, Kent's newest Conservative MP, has been
01:13showing support for Robert Jenrick who today received 33 votes so he's the front runner.
01:19She's been saying that he's strong with his views on immigration and she thinks that he'll bring
01:23about the change that she wants to see within her party. Others like Helen Waitley and Laura Trott
01:29who are both members of the Shadow Cabinet and both have constituencies in the county
01:35aren't backing their fellow Kent colleague Tom Tugendhat either. They're showing support for
01:39Kemi Badenoch who has 28 votes as of today. Earlier we spoke to Sir Roger Gale who's the
01:45MP for Herne Bay and Sandwich and although he can't exactly say who his support lies with
01:50because he's on the executive for the 1922 committee what he does say is that what MPs
01:55are looking for in a Tory leader could be very different to what the Parliamentary Party are after.
02:01The membership of the Conservative Party is looking for a leader for the party to take us
02:08into the next general election, hopefully win the next general election and become the next
02:13Conservative Prime Minister. The Parliamentary Party clearly is looking for the man or woman
02:20who will take us through this Parliament, lead us at the parliamentary level, lead the attack on
02:28the opposition, hold the opposition to account and enable us all to do what is now our job which is
02:34to very fiercely and unrelentingly take what is already seen as a dreadful government to pieces.
02:43So what we do know now is that Tom Tugendhat is still in the race to be to lead the party but what
02:48voters in Kent compared to what MPs in Parliament want could be very different and well we might see
02:53that play out coming in the next stages. But what is the next stage? Well the four through to the
02:58next stage will pitch, directly pitch, to party members at a conference up in Birmingham a few
03:04hours away from here and that's where it could all change. Tom Tugendhat is still in the race to be
03:10changed. Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverley are both at the bottom right now with 21 votes
03:15and Robert Jenrick with 33 at the top but it's all to play for.