Tory leadership: Tactical voting claims over Johnson and Hunt win
- by Lorene Schwartz
- in People
- — Jun 21, 2019
In the lead-up to a final vote, the campaign to elect the Conservative Party's next leader has taken some surprising twists.
Boris Johnson tweeted: "Delighted to have the support of over half of all Conservative MPs in the fourth ballot".
"We are going to give Boris the fight of his life", Mr Hunt said.
Mr Gove has never been forgiven for betraying Mr Johnson in the 2016 leadership contest.
Whoever wins the competition to become the leader of the Conservatives, the party that is now in power, becomes by default the next prime minister of Britain as the country prepares to leave the European Union, or Brexit.
The Home Secretary garnered 34 votes, 25 votes behind his nearest rival Jeremy Hunt.
BBC political correspondent Jonathan Blake said that as soon as the final result was announced on Thursday, MPs began speculating there may have been foul play after analysing the number of votes cast for each candidate.
Johnson increased his share of the vote of Conservative lawmakers at each of the ballots: 114 out of 313 votes in the first ballot on June 13, 126 on June 18, 143 on Wednesday, and 157 and 160 on Thursday.
The remaining candidates not named Johnson are now desperately vying for Rory Stewart's backers, with pressure being put on them to support Mr Hunt to leave Mr Gove isolated.
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"I think Michael has the momentum", said lawmaker Guy Opperman, a Gove supporter.
Johnson received 162 votes in the fifth round, with Hunt receiving 77.
"I would remind people of their obligations within the party - yes, we're a Conservative Party, but we're also a Unionist party, and I'd remind them that our own union of nations is every bit as important as leaving someone else".
"Well, you know, this happens in all leadership contests".
May officially stepped down as Conservative party leader this month over her failure to deliver Brexit on time, although she remains prime minister until her successor is chosen.
An opinion poll published this week showed a majority of Conservative Party members - who will make the final decision on Britain's next prime minister in July - would accept losing Scotland from the United Kingdom as long as Brexit is delivered.
On Thursday Johnson was formally endorsed by London's Evening Standard, edited by the remain-backing former chancellor, George Osborne, with an editorial in the newspaper predicting that Johnson would end up persuading the Commons to "vote for a repacked version of the existing deal".
Although Mr Johnson had "formidable qualities", Mr Gove said he felt he would be a better prime minister than his former cabinet colleague and fellow Brexiteer.
