? Ex-home secretary faces calls to pull out of Conservative leadership race in favour of Robert Jenrick

Read more ?https://t.co/RtvcHbrP5N pic.twitter.com/qbCC3wUviB

— Telegraph Politics (@TelePolitics) July 20, 2024

NEW

Suella Braverman has claimed the Conservative Party is at risk of becoming “centrist cranks”

Urging the Tories to move to the right, Braverman said: “If we keep disagreeing with Reform on many and fundamental things, we won’t get those votes back”https://t.co/BxWp2wJEPD

— Dominic Penna (@DominicPenna) July 20, 2024

EXCL: More Tory leadership news!

James Cleverly is expected to announce he's running for Tory leader.

Growing chatter Kevin Hollinrake will also join race!

Mel Stride is running.

(Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick & Priti Patel already expected to run)https://t.co/g9gZzc4NHv

— Kate Ferguson (@kateferguson4) July 20, 2024

Could an alliance between Jenrick and Braverman seal the leadership for one of them?

I’ve been saying for a while that Suella Braverman is a clear lay in this market and it appears a growing number of Tory MPs agree with that assessment. The only question is will be a help or hindrance to Robert Jenrick to have the backing of Suella Braverman?

I suspect it will be a hindrance with Tory MPs who participate in the first stage of the Tory leadership contest but Jenrick doesn’t need to win the first stage, only finish in the top two then Braverman’s endorsement might be crucial with the Tory membership. So on current prices I think Jenrick is also a lay.

Over on Betfair you can get 75s on Mel Stride succeeding Sunak, I think that makes for a decent trading bet.

TSE