Tom Tugendhat has been knocked out of the Conservative leadership race, leaving one clear favourite in pole position.
The MP for Tonbridge exited after receiving 20 votes versus James Cleverly’s 39, Robert Jenrick’s 31 and Kemi Badenoch’s 30.
As a result, Cleverly’s odds have shortened with the bookies from 11/10 into 10/11 while Jenrick has drifted from 6/4 to 11/4, overtaken by Badenoch in the market.
Badenoch is now priced at 5/2 from 6/1 going into tomorrow’s vote, after which only two contenders will remain to replace Rishi Sunak.
William Kedjanyi, Political Betting Analyst at Star Sports, said: “James Cleverly seized momentum in the Tory leadership race thanks to his performance at last week’s Conservative Party Conference and appears to have one foot in the final two following a big win in the third ballot.
“He moved into favouritism over the weekend and has now consolidated his position as the frontrunner, collecting 39 of the 120 votes cast, with Tom Tugendhat tumbling out of proceedings.
“Shadow Home Secretary Cleverly now sits ahead of Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick as our 10/11 favourite, and looks set to reach the final two given his big leap in votes and the high likelihood that he will pick up a majority of centrist MPs from the now eliminated Tugendhat.
“Badenoch will fight it out with Jenrick for support from the right of the party to make it to the final stage, when the three contenders are cut to two in tomorrow’s vote, which promises to be razor tight between the pair.”