7 things you may have missed

Almost four months after the Conservative Party suffered its worst-ever general election defeat, the party is about to appoint a new leader.

Either Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will be announced as the winner of the leadership election shortly after 11pm Japan time.

It’s been quite a journey…

Several stalwarts of the party failed to make it to the starting line.

The Conservative Party lost more than 240 seats, including seats held by 12 cabinet members, with the general election reducing the number of MPs to 121.

Like Michael Portillo in 1997, Penny Mordaunt, Grant Shapps and Gillian Keegan were expelled from parliament by voters and, at least this time, lost their hope of leading the party overnight.

Among those who remained persistent, former home secretary Suella Braverman, who had been seen as a standard-bearer for the right for some time, decided not to run, instead supporting her former junior colleague at the Home Office, former immigration minister Jenrick.

Mel Stride came close to losing her Central Devon seat on July 4, but held on by 61 votes.

Despite being the least well-known of the six candidates in the leadership race, he appeared in numerous media interviews during the general election, developing a reputation as having two safe hands. .

The former Work and Pensions Secretary wanted to burnish that brand by pitching himself as a unifying candidate who could restore the party’s credibility.

The opening vote of Conservative MPs put him ahead of former home secretary Dame Priti Patel.

But then the Melmentum sensation stalled, and Stride was dashed before the roadshow moved from Westminster to Birmingham.

He would later become the next candidate to be eliminated, but Tom Tugendhat, an ex-military man, decisively (and sometimes won) the “commodities war” at the party’s convention in Birmingham. There is no room for doubt. .

Fun merchandise has become a staple of parties’ annual gatherings as activists gather to take stock of the year’s highs and lows.

In Birmingham, Jenrick’s ‘We Want Bobby J’ baseball cap deserves honorable mention.

But Team Tugendhat led the field with souvenir hats, T-shirts, mints with his name on them, tattoos and even Tugendhat, a fake tan.

No stranger to controversy and not usually one to shy away from it, Mr Badenoch was determined to end the spat over a press conference in which he suggested maternity benefits were “going too far”.

She later told reporters she didn’t think maternity benefits “need to change at all” and claimed her comments had been “misrepresented” as she was talking about cutting regulations for businesses. did.

But it wasn’t until her leadership rivals capitalized on her initial remarks.

Later, in a fringe meeting, Badenoch quipped that some civil servants are so bad they should be in jail.

But this time, I couldn’t distance myself from that statement. It was an off-the-cuff joke, but she accepted to speak up.

During the election campaign, there were very few “Blue vs. Blue” conflicts.

Bob Blackman, chairman of the Backbench 1922 Committee, which runs the committee, warned candidates he would issue yellow cards to candidates who openly attacked their rivals.

But the real outrage came when Jenrick claimed that Britain’s special forces were “killing terrorists rather than capturing them”, citing constraints under human rights law.

Mr Tugendhat, who had served in the military alongside James Cleverley, said: “This is a very serious accusation that shows a fundamental lack of understanding of military operations, the chain of command and the nature of the law in a nation. ”, he said, “I’m angry.” Army”.

“Our military doesn’t kill people,” Cleverly agreed.

Jenrick backed his claim.

They are all smiling, but only two are waving to the supporters. The two will then be removed by their fellow MPs in the coming days.

Most surprising was James Cleverley’s withdrawal from the contest.

Most party members seemed to agree he had won in a speech that took up much of the final day of the conference in Birmingham, telling them to be “more normal” and offering conservatism “with a smile”. He argued that it was necessary to do so.

He then established a clear lead in the penultimate vote among Tory MPs, but when they voted again 24 hours later he dropped dramatically to Badenoch 42, Jenrick 41 and Cleverley 37.

There was a gasp in the Commons committee room where the results were announced.

So what happened? Conservative MPs are sometimes described by some in their own party as being the “most duplicitous” of their constituents.

Multiple theories have been proposed. But since it was a secret ballot, the truth will never be known.

Unlike previous Conservative Party leadership elections, there was no televised debate between candidates this time.

Mr Badenoch and Mr Jenrick appeared on a two-hour special on GB News, but they never crossed paths. The two appeared separately and answered questions from Conservative members and viewers at home.

Plans for a BBC Question Time feature and an event hosted by The Sun never materialized.

During the campaign, Ms Jenrick gave more interviews and gave more speeches than Ms Badenoch, but she was widely considered to be the front-runner with more to lose.