In today’s The Times supporters of Kemi Badenoch are whining that Tory MPs are voting tactically

In today’s The Times supporters of Kemi Badenoch are whining that Tory MPs are voting tactically

Supporters of Kemi Badenoch fear that she is the victim of a “dirty tricks” campaign designed to push her out of the Tory leadership race.

Champions of the housing, communities and local government shadow secretary are privately questioning the results of the first round of the contest, which saw her come out just one vote ahead of James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary.

The result led to questions over ­whether Badenoch, who had been the bookies’ favourite, could make it into the final two of the contest, amid claims that her campaign had lost momentum.

But her backers have also questioned whether some right-wing MPs — who want to see Robert Jenrick elected leader — had “lent” their votes to Cleverly to boost his numbers as a centrist rival to Badenoch. This, they suggested, would help give him momentum and encourage more moderate MPs to switch their backing to him as the candidate to go head to head with Jenrick.

“Cleverly has only got six MPs who have come out and said they’ll support him — but all of a sudden he gets 21 votes in the first round of voting,” said one ally of Badenoch.

Instead of complaining about how people are voting under the exhaustive ballot system Badenoch should focus on winning over MPs. One of the reasons I have continued to lay Kemi Badenoch in this leadership contest is that she isn’t as impressive as she thinks she is, Tory MPs seem to agree with me, and the betting markets are moving towards my view.

TSE