Tory leadership battle: Who’s backing who? Your definitive guide
Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries back Liz Truss for PM
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The Tory leadership race is fully underway with candidates pitching themselves to the public and MPs in an attempt to garner support before tonight’s deadline. Each contender needs the backing of 20 MPs according to the rules set by the 1922 Committee this week. But who is backing who in the race to become the next Prime Minister?
Kemi Badenoch
A relative outsider in the race, the former levelling up and equalities minister has won the backing of Tory heavyweight Michael Gove and 15 others.
With a little more support could find herself on the MPs ballot for Number 10.
Kemi Badenoch’s backers:
Lucy Allan
Lee Anderson
Gareth Bacon
Ben Bradley
Alex Burghart
Leo Docherty
Michael Gove
Michael Gove
Eddie Hughes
Tom Hunt
Dr Caroline Johnson
Andrew Lewer
Julia Lopez
Nigel Mills
Neil O’Brien
Lee Rowley
Justin Tomlinson
Suella Braverman
The current Attorney General was among the first to announce her bid for leadership following Mr Johnson’s resignation, and has pitched herself as a no-nonsense, true blue Tory candidate.
Her pitch is failing to convince enough MPs however, and with a mere 12 backers, she’s unlikely to pass the initial voting round.
Suella Braverman’s backers:
Steve Baker
Miriam Cates
Richard Drax
Sir John Hayes
Philip Hollobone
David Jones
Danny Kruger
Julian Lewis
Jason McCartney
Robin Millar
Henry Smith
Sir Desmond Swayne
Rehman Chishti
The lesser-known MP for Gillingham and Rainham launched his bid for Number 10 in a low-key fashion via a homemade video posted online last week.
Unsurprisingly, this attempt is yet to convince any of his fellow MPs and he has no declared backers.
Jeremy Hunt
The former Health Secretary is no stranger to Tory leadership bids, having gone up against Mr Johnson in the final round of the 2019 contest.
His support has dwindled somewhat since then, with 14 public backers so far.
Jeremy Hunt’s backers:
Paul Beresford
Crispin Blunt
Peter Bottomley
Steve Brine
Philip Davies
Jonathan Djangoly
Philip Dunne
Oliver Heald
Daniel Kawczynski
Anthony Mangnall
Esther McVey
Andrew Mitchell
David Morris
Dan Poulter
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Sajid Javid
The recently resigned Health Secretary has a modest backing from MPs, but it’s unlikely to be enough to push him over the line:
Sajid Javid’s backers:
Ed Argar
Saqib Bhatti
Virginia Crosbie
Steve Double
Rob Halfon
Pauline Latham
Rachel Maclean
Chris Philp
Mary Robinson
Robin Walker
Mike Wood
Jeremy Wright
Penny Mordaunt
Ms Mordaunt is currently the bookies favourite to win the premiership – but her numbers aren’t as impressive as Mr Sunak, even though she has well-known backers in the form of Michael Fabricant, Andrea Leadsom and David Davis.
Penny Mordaunt’s backers:
Caroline Ansell
Sarah Atherton
Duncan Baker
Harriet Baldwin
Theo Clarke
Elliot Colburn
Damian Collins
David Davis
Caroline Dinenage
Michael Fabricant
George Freeman
James Gray
Kate Griffiths
Alicia Kearns
John Lamont
Andrea Leadsom
Maria Miller
Robbie Moore
Kieran Mullan
Nicola Richards
Bob Seely
James Sunderland
Derek Thomas
Craig Tracey
Sir Charles Walker
Rishi Sunak
Mr Sunak has the most backers in the party and is the current frontrunner to take on the leadership role.
He has some big hitters behind him; Dominic Raab and Gavin Williamson have both backed him, and his short-lived fellow contender Grant Shapps has also offered his support.
Rishi Sunak’s backers:
Bim Afolami
Siobhan Baillie
Andrew Bowie
Anthony Brown
James Cartlidge
Maria Caulfield
Alex Chalk
Claire Coutinho
Gareth Davies
Oliver Dowden
Ruth Edwards
Laura Farris
Liam Fox
Lucy Frazer
Louie French
Peter Gibson
John Glen
Sir Robert Goodwill
Greg Hands
Mark Harper
Simon Hart
Simon Hoare
Kevin Hollinrake
Robert Jenrick
Fay Jones
Simon Jupp
Gillian Keegan
Julie Marson
Paul Maynard
Andrew Murrison
Bob Neil
Rebecca Pow
Victoria Prentis
Dominic Raab
Angela Richardson
Grant Shapps
Mark Spencer
Gary Streeter
Mel Stride
Laura Trott
Helen Whately
Craig Williams
Gavin Williamson
Jacob Young
Liz Truss
The Foreign Secretary was one of the latest to throw her hat into the ring, and has amassed support from an impressive number of MPs, making it likely she will pass into the voting stage.
Liz Truss’ backers:
Rob Butler
Simon Clarke
James Cleverly
Thérèse Coffey
Dehenna Davison
Nadine Dorries
Jackie Doyle-Price
Vicky Ford
Marcus Fysh
Darren Henry
Ranil Jayawardena
Julian Knight
Kwasi Kwarteng
Wendy Morton
Mark Pritchard
Jacob Rees-Mogg
Dean Russell
Alec Shelbrooke
Chloe Smith
Tom Tugendhat
Tom Tugendhat is considered more centrist than the other candidates, which has won him support from like minded MPs in the party.
Tom Tugendhat’s backer’s
Nickie Aiken
Aaron Bell
Jake Berry
Karen Bradley
James Daly
Jo Gideon
Damian Green
Chris Green
Stephen Hammond
Paul Holmes
Neil Hudson
Robert Largan
Mark Logan
Damian Moore
Anne Marie Morris
Mark Pawsey
Ben Spencer
John Stevenson
Sir Robert Syms
Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Nadhim Zahawi
The recently appointed Chancellor has a fair level of support from MPs so far – but his flip-flopping support for Mr Johnson may have cost him the admiration he needs to be on the MPs ballot.
Nadhim Zahawi’s backers:
Jack Brereton
Sara Britcliffe
Michelle Donelan
Tobias Ellwood
Ben Everitt
Mark Fletcher
Jonathan Gullis
Mark Jenkinson
David Johnston
Brandon Lewis
Amanda Milling
Jesse Norman
Paul Scully
Maggie Throup
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