Given less than 24 hours to secure enough backers, those who had easily crossed the threshold to secure their place in the first round of voting focused on increasing the maximum number of swingers while their opponents faltered. Despite the new cabinet meeting for the first time at 9am, the 10 sources said a virtual silence had fallen on Downing Street, with the real action taking place behind closed doors in parliament. The first twist of the day came when eagle-eyed observers spotted Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, and Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, getting into the same car after the cabinet. Before they got to Rishi Sunak’s launch to rally behind him, one of Raab’s special advisers almost gave the game away to those in attendance by wandering into the crowd – and was told to break up. When the pair arrived at Westminster’s QE II conference centre, only Raab had a chance to address supporters – many of whom were men in navy uniforms waving placards saying Sunak would “bring the country back together”. Sapps, who had chosen to hang up his own short-lived campaign and back the former chancellor, watched from the sidelines. Sunak asked few questions and made no new policy announcements. His longtime team was in evidence, including Cass Horowitz, who is credited with creating Brand Rishi. A young assistant was heard telling a colleague that Sunak’s short speech was so good that at one point she “torn up”. Eight MPs have passed the first ballot At the same time, less than a mile away, at the broadcaster’s Westminster studio home, Tom Tugendhat was also launching his campaign in front of a giant banner bearing his first name. Some in attendance at 4 Millbank joked that the ex-soldier would emulate Boris Johnson bulldozing through a brick wall bearing the message ‘get Brexit done’ by driving a tank through the paper poster. At the front of the audience was Jake Berry, the chairman of the Northern Research Group, whose support for Tugendhat was crucial in helping him support the “red wall” MPs, with key members of the thinktank and the rank and file of specialists. . After asking only two questions, Tugendhat left – apparently to the surprise of his aides. Tom Tugendhat took just two questions as he launched his leadership campaign. Photo: Tayfun Salcı/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock Afterwards, his supporters posed together for photos, although the candidate was missing. When some MPs began to wander off, his top allies Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Damian Green and Aaron Bell herded them into a corner of the lobby, pressing pens into their hands to sign nomination papers. The third simultaneous campaign launch was also held a stone’s throw from parliament, at the Policy Exchange thinktank, where Kemi Badenoch took to a stage with union flags. Enigmatically introduced by Walsall North MP Eddie Hughes for being afraid of seagulls, she received rapturous applause for her rejection of “identity politics” and a “bidding war” over her opponents’ tax cut promises. She was attended by Michael Gove, the only cabinet minister sacked by Boris Johnson last week, and the four others with whom he resigned from the government in a joint statement. As one of the youngest nominees, and with no cabinet experience, Badenoch dismissed suggestions that she was unqualified to be prime minister – a suggestion that some of her backers have already made, privately. 1922 Commission announces eight candidates for Tory leadership contest – video Without yet having officially launched the campaign, Liz Truss has also won fresh support from two cabinet colleagues seen as staunch Johnson supporters – Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries. The two appeared outside No 10 to support Truss, a move that upset some of her existing supporters who believed their hard-line support for the prime minister would only cement concerns that she was the successor. “How many votes will she lose?” a minister sighed. As the deadline for candidates to file their nomination papers looms, Home Minister Priti Patel has ended speculation that she could throw her hat in the ring by confirming she will not run, a development many expected because she could not to meet the minimum number of 20 candidates needed to secure a spot on Wednesday’s first ballot. All candidates were given 15 minutes to visit Graham Brady’s office where they had to present documents bearing the name and signature of their 20 supporters. Only the first two will be made public, while the names of the rest are being kept private by the 1922 Commission, which oversees the leadership election. The first camp to secure a place in the first round of voting was Tugendhat’s, with Bell handing in the papers just after 3pm. Meanwhile, outside the elevator to the floor Brady’s office sits, other teams facing a race to get over the line were nervous. One of Suella Braverman’s supporters rushed up to the numbers man, Steve Baker, and asked if they had enough supporters, to which the former Brexit minister smiled discreetly and nodded. Badenoch was also said to sweat in the afternoon because he did not meet the limit. But a beleaguered Rehman Chishti, who had struggled to encourage anyone to publicly back his leadership bid, was left reeling. “If you don’t have that many friends, why prove it?” a Tory source scoffed. Suella Braverman had the numbers to cover the threshold. Photo: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Rex/Shutterstock Chishti pulled out of the race 20 minutes before the deadline for nominations, while Javid told his campaign team at the same time he didn’t have the numbers – and after becoming visibly uncomfortable during his speech on Monday due to the heat, he joked that they had the sweatiest campaign of the bunch. Within minutes, news of Javid’s announcement had spread through parliament – with MPs scrambling to make phone calls to try to sweep up his supporters before they were arrested by rival camps. One vacillating supporter, who has held talks with all the candidates’ camps, reflected on Tuesday afternoon that “we have to remember that the hardest part of this is going to be reuniting the party at the end of the process.” Referring to Dorris’ attacks on Sunak, they said it was made “particularly harsh by a certain brick-pushing cabinet minister on Twitter” and added: “She should have her phone taken away.” Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Although Sunak was on the ballot with the MP’s largest number of supporters, Dorries launched a fresh attack on him on Tuesday night, accusing the former chancellor of “dirty tricks/stitches/dark arts” after claims one of his supporters his, Gavin Williamson – had told colleagues to lend votes to Jeremy Hunt. As dusk approached and the political temperature dropped, Brady took a familiar seat in committee room 14 to announce the final tally of eight candidates. MPs drifted into the cool night air to continue lobbying undeclared colleagues, whose brains were more easily picked in the relaxed surroundings of Westminster’s various watering holes.
