Boris Johnson was accused of interfering directly in the contest to select his successor, further entangling the Tory leadership contest in more allegations of dirty tricks.
Tobias Ellwood, one of the sharpest opponents of the Prime Minister, was targeted by the Prime Minister this morning for voting against his government in yesterday night’s Commons confidence vote.
The former defence minister lost his party whip after going to visit the presidents of Moldova in what the Conservatives claim was an unauthorised trip.
The penalty prevents the Bournemouth East MP, a Penny Mordaunt supporter, from casting a ballot in today’s fourth round of the leadership election.
It fuelled rumours that Mr. Johnson was attempting to help Liz Truss, his favoured successor, who is trailing Mordaunt and former chancellor Rishi Sunak in the polls and whose resignation helped bring about the end of Mr. Johnson’s administration.
The four surviving candidates are getting ready for another important knockout vote this afternoon, and Ms Truss is making an all-out effort to unseat Ms Mordaunt.
A recent YouGov survey that predicted she would win the leadership position if she made the final two and it went to a vote of members gave her a boost.
Rishi Sunak appears to be guaranteed a position in the party members’ final run-off ballot as Conservative MPs reduce the field to three this afternoon, but the race for second place is still too close to call.
Some allies of Mr. Truss are concerned that Mr. Sunak will “lend” followers to Ms. Mordaunt in order to eliminate the foreign secretary and put him up against the international trade minister in the last two.
Despite being the favourite to be eliminated today, Kemi Badenoch is still in the running after gaining nine more backers to reach 58.
Ms. Truss is aiming to build on her momentum from yesterday night’s vote, when she added another seven backers, bringing her total to 71, after a sluggish start.
The trade minister’s early surge appears to be fading as she slipped a vote to 82, despite the fact that she is still short of Ms. Mordaunt’s totals.
Tom Tugendhat, a former soldier, finished last night’s competition in last place and was eliminated. Ms. Truss has been courting his supporters by promising to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030.
We need a stronger deterrent to combat these dangers and guarantee that Britain takes the lead on the international stage because we live in a world that is more dangerous than it was ten years ago, she said.
In the end, more resources are needed. People can rely on me to keep this country safe because that is my top priority.
However, her rivals are also courting Mr. Tugendhat, with Ms. Badenoch declaring that he would be a “asset” to any future Conservative administration and Ms. Mordaunt tweeting that she had “admired” him for years.
Ms. Badenoch stated that it is still “all to play for” as she left her house this morning.
The team for Mr. Sunak had anticipated he wouldn’t add much to his score, but they were overjoyed when he raised it from 101 to 115.
Given that there are 358 Conservative MPs overall, anything over 120 ensures a spot in the top two.
This morning’s loss of Mr. Ellwood’s vote hurt Ms. Mordaunt’s campaign.
The PM’s action is likely to be perceived as being solely motivated by his desire to avenge a backbencher who has made no secret of his dislike for him.
One of the first Tory MPs to call for his resignation due to the Partygate controversy was Mr. Ellwood.
The former soldier, who served in Moldova, is the head of the defence committee.
In a statement, Mr. Ellwood expressed his regret at losing the Tory whip but claimed that ‘extraordinary disruption’ prevented him from travelling back from a meeting with the country’s president in Chisinau.
A Tory source, however, claimed that he had been informed before departing that he would not be paired, noting that “other Conservative MPs cancelled international trips, left ailing families, and one MP’s mother passed away on the morning of the vote and yet attended and voted.”
The 55-year-old father of two was one of 12 Conservatives who voted against Mr. Johnson’s motion for confidence Friday night, which he easily won 349 to 238 thanks to his sizable majority.
By retweeting Penny Mordaunt’s campaign video this morning, he seemed to be endorsing her in the Tory leadership election.
With the whip taken away from him, he is no longer eligible to vote, although Chris Pincher, the former whip who had the whip suspended due to groping claims, is still eligible.
Numerous ministers, including Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg, have publicly endorsed Liz Truss, the opponent of Mr. Johnson, raising suspicions that his staff is secretly supporting her.
To say that this was the PM’s motivation, however, was deemed “frankly completely ludicrous” by Culture Secretary Ms. Dorries.
In order to maintain a fair distribution of the voting groupings, ministers and backbenchers having legitimate excuses to be absent from Parliament during votes are typically paired with individuals in comparable positions in the opposing parties.
The procedure is optional and occasionally may not apply to significant votes, such as a vote of confidence.
The other 11 absentees, it is believed, were matched.
Even though he didn’t participate in the race for the Tory leadership to succeed Mr. Johnson, Mr. Ellwood, a Remainer and longtime opponent of the PM, has long campaigned for the PM’s removal as leader.
Mr. Ellwood, a former Army captain, gained notoriety in 2017 when he stepped in to save PC Keith Palmer after the terrorist Khalid Masood had fatally stabbed him outside the Palace of Westminster.
He served as Theresa May’s veterans minister at the Ministry of Defence, but once Mr. Johnson gained government, he went back to the opposition benches to head the defence committee.
‘It is instructive that Boris Johnson moved quickly to punish Tobias Ellwood this time, but dragged his feet for days when it came to suspending the whip from his devoted backer Chris Pincher,’ said Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain.
This petty behaviour demonstrates that there is no longer room in the Conservative Party for individuals who do not support Johnson.
“The Conservative leadership candidates should denounce this action and state categorically that Tobias Ellwood will regain the whip.”
Anything less would demonstrate that they are all equally awful as Johnson and would maintain his dismal track record with sleaze, the NHS, and cost of living.
Today, Mr. Sunak has been attempting to increase his popularity among the Tories on the right by pledging harsher punishments for criminals who fail to show up for their sentencing hearings in court as well as a crackdown on grooming gangs.
Lord Hague, a former prime minister, endorsed him and called him a “extraordinary guy” who can be trusted in “one of the worst times to be prime minister in our lifetimes: certainly since 1979, probably since 1945.” This has given him additional support.
One recently-retired former Cabinet minister, however, told MailOnline that they were worried about a “Jeremy Corbyn situation,” in which the candidate who had the support of the majority of MPs (presumably Mr. Sunak) was not chosen by party members.
“Jeremy Hunt did better than Boris Johnson in the hustings.” But he lost,” the MP stated. It is a very challenging situation to be in. We are unsure of how things will turn out.
Following yesterday night’s most recent turmoil, the candidates and their allies made an effort to highlight their accomplishments.
“Liz is the candidate to lead a bold new economic policy, lower taxes, deliver on the advantages of Brexit, unite the Party, and win a General Election,” a spokesman for the Truss campaign said.
“Tom Tugendhat ran a campaign of which he should be quite proud and who has demonstrated the calibre of the Conservative Party.
“Now is the moment to support the candidate who will bring about the necessary economic reform.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Tories who is now supporting Ms. Truss, argued that she had “gone forward” while Ms. Mordaunt’s campaign had “stalled and gone backward.”
Ms. Mordaunt asserted that her “voting is solid,” nonetheless.
“My vote remains stable, and I’m appreciative of all the support from my colleagues. I’m also pleased to be back in second position.”
MPs are aware of my strength as a candidate, my commitment to running an ethical campaign, and my enthusiasm for the party and the nation.
“Tom Tugendhat MP is a friend and a colleague I have long liked. I know that we are both dedicated to a fresh start for our party, and I think he is one of the most valuable members of the Conservative green benches. In this competition, it was an honour to compete beside him.
Michael Gove, who is Ms. Badenoch’s strongest admirer, said previously that some of the big names’ backers were having “buyer’s remorse.”
And his candidate remarked, “It’s all up for grabs.” As the only remaining change candidate, I’ve been gaining ground and closing the gap. I intend to prevail.
He is “the candidate with the clearest strategy to restore trust, develop the economy, unite the country and because he is best placed to beat Labour at the next election,” according to a Sunak spokesman.
“I want to thank my staff, colleagues, and most of all the British people for their support,” Mr. Tugendhat added.
The support we have gotten around the nation has astounded me.
People want a fresh start, and our party needs to deliver on that demand in order to restore public confidence in politics.
“I wish the remaining candidates the best of luck, and I look forward to continuing to serve the British people and fully supporting the next leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,” the statement reads.
After it became known that the contenders had weathered their final TV debate in this phase, there was great intrigue at Westminster.
Sky News cancelled the confrontation that was scheduled for tonight after both Mr. Sunak and Ms. Truss withdrew, citing a desire to avoid internal strife.