An advisor to James Cleverly’s leadership campaign has described his surprising exit as an “almighty cockup” after his candidate was knocked out of the competition.
The shadow home secretary failed to make the cut for the final two candidates on the ballot ahead of a members’ vote.
He received just 37 votes in a result that has stunned Westminster.
Kemi Badenoch took first place with 42 votes with Robert Jenrick finishing closely behind on 41 votes.
The final two candidates will now face a ballot of the Conservative Party membership with the winner announced on Saturday November 2nd.
Reaction to the result has been quick to flood in on social media, with one Aubrey Allegretti reporting that one Tory MP says the party is “f*cked” after the latest round of votes.
Hugo Rifkind, meanwhile, posted his admiration for the Conservatives, who appear to have lost an election which only had Conservatives running in it.
While Tom Skinner, who was advising Cleverly, told LBC that the whole thing is just an “almighty cockup”.
Related: Boris Johnson claims Cameron told him he would ‘f*ck him up’ if he backed Leave