With the battle lines now clear in the Conservative Party leadership contest, one former borough MP has thrown his weight behind Robert Jenrick to become new leader.
Newark MP Jenrick has represented the area since 2014, with his campaign for the Tory leadership gaining traction since it launched in July.
On Wednesday it was announced Mr Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch, the MP for North West Essex, are the final two Tories in the race to take over from former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the top of the party.
That was after James Cleverly – who looked to be the favourite after winning the penultimate vote on Tuesday – was surprisingly eliminated from the race.
Ms Badenoch’s votes increased from 30 votes on Tuesday to 42, beating Mr Jenrick by one vote, with his support increasing from 31 to 41.
Mr Cleverly – who’s a former Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary – saw his vote fall from 39 to 37.
It means Mr Jenrick will face the vote of the 170,000 Conservative Party members later this month – alongside former Business Secretary Ms Badenoch.
He’s the only remaining Conservative MP in Nottinghamshire, but has the backing of some prominent local Tories.
Public confidence in the Conservative Party reduced in the final years of the last Government.
Part of this was due to the impact of Brexit and Covid, but some Tories are hoping Mr Jenrick could help “gain the confidence” of the public back.
Mark Spencer, former Sherwood Conservative MP and Chief Whip under Boris Johnson’s Government believes both Jenrick and Badenoch would be good leaders.
However, his preference lies with his former neighbouring MP.
He said: “He understands he has to listen, he also listened to the messages we were getting on the doorstep.
“We didn’t grow the economy as fast as we should have, we didn’t deal with immigration despite saying we were going to.
“He recognises the mistakes we’ve made, he’s willing to listen further to the public’s concerns and criticisms.
“There are those in the party that think Labour are making a mess of things- their failure doesn’t necessarily translate to our success. It’s a mistake to presume that.
“We have a sophisticated electorate that has many concerns and aspirations. We as a party have to make sure we align with them, have solutions and the same ambition as the public.”
Cllr Ben Bradley, the leader of the county council and former MP for Mansfield has consistently backed Badenoch publically.
However, he believes “the right two got through” and said he would be happy with either candidate.
He said: “I think [Robert Jenrick] understands the problems that we face as a party, no doubt he would do a good job – it might be good news for Nottinghamshire to have the leader of the party here.
“My preference is for Kemi, we entered parliament together in 2017, and we’ve been very good friends for a long time.
“I’ve seen her integrity, her bravery standing up for what she believes in and I have seen how effective she is at being a minister and making a case and tackling really difficult issues sensitively and clearly.
“I think she would genuinely make a significant change in the party that is needed if we are going to repair things and be electable for the wider public in future, but I am confident either of them would do a good job.”
The vote of Conservative Party members closes on October 31, and the new Tory leader will be announced on November 2.
“The right two got through”
The far right two. Because when Labour are doing such a shoddy job what we really need is a couple of bigots blaming everything on the boats and/or wokeism.
This is how Labour get a decade out of the UK.