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The contest to become the next Tory leader and prime minister will be whittled down to the final two candidates on Thursday.
Boris Johnson appears certain to make it through to the next stage, having topped the ballot in each of the three previous rounds and secured the votes of 143 of 313 Conservative MPs.
Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove and Sajid Javid also remain in the contest after Rory Stewart was knocked out on Wednesday, but two rounds on voting on Thursday will see the MP with the lowest total eliminated.
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The next leader and prime minister will then be chosen by members of the Conservative Party next month from the two remaining candidates.
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We’re expecting the result of the penultimate ballot of Tory MPs in around 15 minutes. The expectation in Westminster is that Sajid Javid will be eliminated, leaving Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt to progress to the final ballot later today. Mr Javid’s team have been talking up the prospect of an upset, but the home secretary will have pulled off a huge surprise if he manages to bridge the gap between himself and the others.
The Court of Appeal ruled this morning that the government’s sale of arms to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen is illegal. Here’s the full story, from Lizzie Dearden:
Boris Johnson has given a big interview to the Evening Standard in which he says there is “a serious job of work to be done” and suggests his priorities as prime minister would be education, infrastructure and technology – the things he focused on as mayor of London.
He says:
“It’s the same formula: it is education, infrastructure and technology — those three things. I want to level up education funding across the UK. There are too many bits of it that don’t get anything like the per-pupil funding as London. And we need to be doing far more with transport infrastructure. I would like to be the prime minister who does for the Northern Powerhouse rail and connectivity with the West Midlands what I was able to do with the Tube upgrades and Crossrail.”
Voting has closed in the fourth round of the Tory leadership ballot.
Bob Stewart, the Tory MP for Beckenham has said he is not concerned Mr Johnson appears to say one thing to some MPs and another to others.
He told the Victoria Derbyshire show it “could be” lying in some cases, but said politicians call it being “economical with the truth”.
Mr Stewart, who was knocked out of the race last night, has refused to say who he voted for.
Amber Rudd has challenged Boris Johnson to reject the “dark arts” of election campaigning, Andrew Woodcock writes:
Margot James, the digital minister who previously backed Mr Stewart, said she had voted for Mr Hunt in this round.
Asked if she could stay in a Tory party led by Mr Johnson, Ms James told the Press Association: “I’m not going to comment further. I’m sorry. I’ve said who I voted for, and that’s it.”
“Twice, the Evening Standard supported Boris Johnson to be the Mayor of London. Today we back him to be the next prime minister.”
It said Mr Johnson had the best chance of “uniting this divided government” and “had the most room for manoeuvre to get the country out of the Brexit mess”.
“That’s why we believe if there’s one of these candidates who can give Britain back its mojo, it’s BoJo,” it concluded.
Asked if there was a “dirty tricks” campaign against him, Mr Gove told the Press Association: “I know there is a campaign for me with wonderful, wonderful people.”
He added: “I’m looking forward to being in the final two as a result of the strong support I have across the party.”
Asked if he knew anything about dark arts when he arrived to vote, Mr Johnson said: “No.”
Ashley Cowburn: Boris Johnson was asked how he celebrated his 55th birthday yesterday as he left the voting room. “In style,” he replied.
Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader who backs Mr Johnson, told the Press Association: “I have been here long enough to know that the only dirty tricks is that MPs never tell you always the truth when it comes to leadership elections. They are unorganisable.”
As he left the room, Mr Hunt said he was “confident – but not over confident” when asked about making the final two, Ashley Cowburn reports.
Our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn is outside of the room where voting is taking place. He writes:
Voting has started in the fourth round of the Conservative leadership contest — as he left the room Michael Gove said Tory MP Michael Fabricant was his “defence against the dark arts”.
The Evening Standard has announced it is backing Mr Johnson for prime minister.
Michael Gove was challenged to praise his leadership rival Jeremy Hunt in the Commons.
Vicky Ford, the Tory MP for Chelmsford, invited the environment secretary to join her in recognising the foreign secretary’s “amazing diplomatic success” in trying to secure a climate change conference.
Mr Gove, in his reply, joked: “The foreign secretary has done an outstanding job on the diplomatic stage and continues to do so, and will continue to do so by making sure that we co-operate with our partners across western Europe, including Italy, to ensure the Conference of Parties in 2020 brings nations together in order to deal with this global challenge.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg, who supports Mr Johnson, said any “dirty tricks” vote transfer campaign by supporters of the former foreign secretary to try and knock Mr Gove out of the contest would be “silly”.
Mr Rees-Mogg told the Press Association: “I think people should always vote for the candidate they support. It is really silly to try and game elections because you can find that your candidate then loses. Vote for the candidate you support is what I have been saying on my side of the argument.”
Ahead of a speech in which Philip Hammond, the chancellor, is set to warn of the dangers of leaving the EU without a deal, shadow chancellor John McDonnell tweeted: “When Boris Johnson’s policies of a no deal Brexit and wild tax cuts to the rich make the architect of austerity, Philip Hammond, look like the voice of moderation you can see how far to the extreme and irresponsible right the Tory party has drifted.”
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