Mel Stride becomes second Tory to crash out of leadership race

Mel Stride has become the second candidate to leave the race to become the new leader of the Conservatives.

The shadow work and pensions secretary was widely seen as the underdog and most likely to be knocked out in the latest ballot of MPs.

That is despite a strong performance hours earlier at the beginning of the debate on cutting the Winter Fuel Payments for 10 million pensioners in England and Wales.

Stride also had the advantage of a morning media round on the day of the vote, again thanks to the major debate taking place this afternoon.

However, it was not enough to save him. He received just 16 votes, compared to 33 for Robert Jenrick, 28 for Kemi Badenoch, and 21 each for James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat.

The original six in the race have now been whittled down to four, following the departure of former Home Secretary Priti Patel last week.

At the end of this month, the remaining four will get an opportunity to make their case at the party conference in Birmingham.

Tory MPs will then decide on the final two, and they will then face a vote of party members before the winner is declared on November 2.

Jenrick and Badenoch have been swapping frontrunner status over the first half of the race, while Cleverly and Tugendhat have argued their status as more moderate options can win over the general public.

Each has offered their own diagnosis for the Conservatives’ catastrophic defeat at July’s General Election.

Whoever wins the race will become Leader of the Opposition on behalf of the party’s smallest group of MPs ever, with just 121 on its benches in the House of Commons.

Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, said Stride would ‘play a big part in our party’s future’ despite his elimination.

He added: ‘Mel is a great friend, campaigner, and politician who has the best interests of his constituents and country at heart.’

Addressing Stride, shadow security minister Tugendhat said: ‘You’ve shown our party has the economic vision and ideas that we need to win. Your campaign is one that all Conservatives can be proud of.’

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