FORMER work and pensions secretary Mel Stride has been eliminated from the Tory leadership race.
His departure leaves Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat in the running.
Jenrick (below), a hardline right-winger, stayed in first place with 33 votes in the ballot of MPs and Badenoch, previously the bookies’ favourite, came second.
Tugendhat, seen as a member of the Tory moderate faction alongside Stride, took 21 votes as did Cleverly, the former home secretary.
Voting continues to among MPs until there are just two candidates standing, with the final say going to party members.
The remaining four will take their pitches to the Tory conference at the end of the month.
Stride had held on in the first round of voting, despite expectations he would crash out. Former home secretary Priti Patel fell in the first round of voting last week.
The former work and pensions secretary’s defeat came after he tabled a motion in the Commons to force a vote on Labour’s plans to scrap the universal Winter Fuel Payment.
Tugendhat (below) enjoys the support of more than a third of the Scottish Conservatives group in Holyrood as well as Harriet Cross, the new Tory MP for Gordon and Buchan.
His Holyrood support crosses dividing lines in the Scottish Tories, currently embroiled in their own fractious leadership campaign.
But Tugendhat was also mocked after claiming the support of an MSP who does not exist after he appeared to get the wrong name for Alexander Stewart, who represents Mid Scotland and Fife.
A victory for Jenrick in the leadership race would be seen as a step further to the right for the Tories.
Jenrick is an immigration hardliner, who dramatically quit his role in the Home Office because he believed the doomed Rwanda scheme did "not go far enough".
Badenoch is seen as a keen culture warrior, who was recently involved in a high profile spat with former Doctor Who actor David Tennant.
