Tory leadership race: Seven things you might have missed

Nearly 4 months aft the Conservatives went down to their worst decision successful a wide predetermination successful their history, they are astir to anoint a caller leader.

Either Kemi Badenoch oregon Robert Jenrick volition beryllium unveiled arsenic the victor of the party's enactment predetermination connected Saturday morning.

It's been rather a ride...

Several large figures successful the enactment ne'er made it to the starting line.

The Tories were reduced to 121 MPs successful the wide predetermination - losing much than 240 seats including those held by 12 furniture ministers.

Just similar Michael Portillo successful 1997, Penny Mordaunt, Grant Shapps and Gillian Keegan mislaid immoderate anticipation of starring the party, this clip astatine least, overnight arsenic they were ejected from Parliament by the electorate.

Among those who hung on, erstwhile Home Secretary Suella Braverman - regarded for immoderate clip arsenic the modular bearer of the close - decided not to run and endorsed erstwhile migration curate Jenrick, her one-time inferior astatine the Home Office, instead.

Mel Stride astir mislaid his Central Devon spot connected 4 July - but clung connected by 61 votes.

Despite having the lowest illustration of immoderate of the six candidates successful the enactment race, helium had cultivated a estimation for having a safe-ish brace of hands during his galore appearances successful media interviews during the wide election.

It was a marque the erstwhile enactment and pensions caput was keen to burnish, pitching himself arsenic the unity campaigner who could reconstruct spot successful the party.

In the opening ballot of Tory MPs, helium outpolled erstwhile Home Secretary Dame Priti Patel.

But immoderate consciousness of "Melmentum" past stalled and Stride was knocked out earlier the roadshow moved connected from Westminster to Birmingham.

He would aboriginal be the adjacent contender to beryllium eliminated, but determination tin beryllium nary question that erstwhile worker - helium mentioned it erstwhile oregon doubly - Tom Tugendhat won the "merch wars" astatine the enactment league successful Birmingham, hands down (and sometimes up).

Fun merch is simply a staple of each parties' yearly gatherings arsenic activists conscionable to chew implicit the year's highs and lows.

In Birmingham, Jenrick's "We Want Bobby J" shot caps merit an honourable mention.

But Team Tugendhat led the tract with souvenir hats, t-shirts, mints with his sanction connected them, tattoos - and adjacent Tugend-tan, fake tan.

No alien to controversy, and usually not idiosyncratic to shy distant from it, Badenoch was determined to unopen down a enactment implicit an interrogation she gave astatine conference, successful which she suggested maternity wage had "gone excessively far".

She later told reporters she did not deliberation maternity wage "needs changing astatine all", and insisted her comments had been "misrepresented" due to the fact that she was talking astir cutting regulations connected business.

But not earlier her enactment rivals had seized upon her archetypal remarks.

Later, astatine a fringe gathering astatine conference, Badenoch quipped that immoderate civilian servants were truthful bad, they should beryllium successful prison.

But this clip determination was nary distancing herself from the remark. It was an off-the-cuff gag and she embraces being outspoken.

There were fewer "blue-on-blue" clashes during the campaign.

Bob Blackman, the president of the backbench 1922 Committee moving it, warned candidates helium would contented yellowish cards to immoderate campaigner who publically attacked a rival.

But determination was existent fury erstwhile Jenrick claimed that British peculiar forces were “killing alternatively than capturing terrorists”, due to the fact that of the constraints of quality rights laws.

Tugendhat, who on with James Cleverly has served successful the military, said helium was "angry" astatine a "very superior accusation" which showed "a cardinal deficiency of consciousness of subject operations, the bid chain, and the quality of the instrumentality successful the equipped forces".

“Our subject bash not execution people," Cleverly agreed.

Jenrick stood by his claim.

They're each smiling, but lone 2 of them are waving to their supporters. And those are the 2 that would beryllium eliminated days aboriginal by their MP colleagues.

It was James Cleverly's exit from the contention that was the astir surprising.

Most enactment members seemed to hold that helium won the conflict of the speeches that dominated the last time of the league successful Birmingham, telling the enactment faithful they needed to beryllium "more normal" and connection Conservatism "with a smile".

He past established a wide pb successful Tory MPs' penultimate ballot - lone to beryllium dramatically eliminated 24 hours later erstwhile they voted again: Badenoch 42, Jenrick 41, Cleverly 37.

There were gasps successful the Commons committee country wherever the effect was announced.

So what happened? Tory MPs person sometimes been said by immoderate connected their ain broadside to beryllium the astir "duplicitous" of electorates.

Multiple theories were advanced. But it was a concealed ballot, truthful the information volition ne'er beryllium known.

Unlike erstwhile Conservative enactment contests, determination was nary TV statement betwixt the candidates this time.

Badenoch and Jenrick took portion successful a two-hour peculiar connected GB News, but did not prosecute with each other. They appeared separately to reply questions from Tory members and viewers astatine home.

Plans for a BBC Question Time peculiar and an lawsuit hosted by The Sun ne'er materialised.

Over the campaign, Jenrick gave much interviews and made much speeches than Badenoch - but she was wide considered the frontrunner with much to lose.