'I nearly wet myself': Tory MP whose tactical vote for Jenrick backfired
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Tory MPs are believed to have voted tactically in the leadership race, hoping to secure a preferred rival for James Cleverly in the final two – but ended up getting him eliminated.
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In brief
- Tory sources have told The News Agents that Conservative MPs used their final leadership vote to try and force a Cleverly and Jenrick showdown in the leadership contest.
- The News Agents say MPs were acting “too clever by half”, but claims Cleverly’s team were involved have been dismissed as “utter bollocks”.
- The Conservatives remain “deeply fractious”, even with a hugely reduced number of MPs in Parliament.
What’s the story?
What a difference a day makes.
Within 24 hours, James Cleverly went from being the frontrunner in the Conservative Party leadership race, to being eliminated.
It left The News Agents ‘speechless’ – and that doesn’t happen often.
Nothing momentous took place between the vote Cleverly won with 39 votes and the one he lost a day later with 37, leading to questions over what kind of “skullduggery” had been going behind the scenes to force him out of the race.
Rumours swirled about tactical voting, but what really happened to leave just Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch in the race to become the next Tory leader?
How tactical voting ended James Cleverly's Tory leadership hopes
What were the rumours?
Almost immediately after the results of this week’s second vote were announced, people began to speculate on how Cleverly could have plummeted out of the race so spectacularly.
On Tuesday, Tom Tugendhat was eliminated after receiving 20 votes from MPs, Jenrick won 31, Badenoch 30. So how did the support for Cleverly seemingly disappear overnight – and where did the votes for Cleverly go?
It was suggested that tactical voting had been attempted, to ensure Cleverly reached the final two with the opponent of his choice, his supporters confident in his success after the previous round of voting.
What have The News Agents been told?
Cleverly’s team tell The News Agents tactical voting was nothing to do with them – but it did happen.
“I was told in no uncertain terms that it would be insane to instruct people not to vote for James, literally mad,” says Emily Maitlis.
“But it doesn't necessarily mean that those voters didn't choose to do it anyway, off their own bat.
“I was told that they had been in conversations with former Cleverly voters who they knew were drifting towards this plan of action, and this person said we literally spent half an hour with some of them explaining why it would be crazy to move their vote.”
Lewis Goodall was also on the phone to Tory HQ to get some insight into what happened, and was told that the idea Cleverly’s team was involved was “complete and utter bollocks.”
“What they are saying happened is that simply too many MPs thought they were being a bit clever by half, and saw the margin on the third vote that Cleverly was way ahead,” he reveals.
“They thought: ‘You know what? We'll freestyle it. I don't want to see Kemi in the last round, so I'll vote for Jenrick instead’.”
“The general assumption in Westminster, talking to sources this morning, is that is what they think happened.”
Jon Sopel says a Tory source he spoke to, who wanted to vote Cleverly, told him that they didn't want to see Jenrick in the final, so voted for Badenoch – telling Jon ”I nearly wet myself" when the results were revealed.
"Someone who was going to vote for Cleverly thought he was being clever by not voting for Cleverly, it turned out to have been rather dumb," he says.
Jon adds that one Tory MP had the opinion that James Cleverly is "thick as shit," but would make "rather a good leader of the Conservative Party."
Cleverly out of Tory race: 'The candidate Labour feared is gone'
What’s The News Agents take?
There are already concerns about the right-wing direction the Tory party might take under the imminent Badenoch or Jenrick leadership, but what does the Cleverly voting shambles say about the state of the party internally?
Nothing good, that’s for sure.
“It tells you something about, again, how the Conservative Party can remain deeply fractious, even with relatively small numbers,” says Lewis.
“There's a reasonable chance that James Cleverly actually is the guy who leads them into the next election.
“There is a chance that whoever wins this has such a disputatious party that they last about 18 months to two years, and Cleverly, is the king over the water.”
To Emily, it simply shows that there “isn't a lot of love across the board” for Cleverly, Badenoch or Jenrick.
“Cleverly, was seen as the man who would hold it all together, the man who obviously, famously told the party conference to be more normal.
“And they were like: ‘Nope, not us.’”
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