What should we make of Rory Stewart, whose much improved showing in yesterday’s second round of the Tory leadership contest has led to feverish speculation that he might challenge Boris Johnson for the prime ministership of the United Kingdom?

What should we make of Rory Stewart, whose much improved showing in yesterday’s second round of the Tory leadership contest has led to feverish speculation that he might challenge Boris Johnson for the prime ministership of the United Kingdom?

It is impossible not to be attracted by his charms. Successful writer, explorer, man of action, possible former spy – he is a romantic creature who could have strayed out of the pages of a John Buchan novel.

Without doubt Mr Stewart has brought a freshness of approach to campaigning by exploiting social media and taking his arguments on to the street where he engages with ordinary voters.

There is a star quality about him which none of the other candidates, apart from Boris, possesses.

His virtues are appreciated by those fed up with the in-fighting and factionalism that blight modern politics.

To judge by last night’s generally unilluminating BBC debate, he is a bit of an oddball too – removing his tie to demonstrate that he was different to the other candidates, and stretching as though he was doing exercises.

This is my question: if tomorrow he should emerge as one of the final two – a prospect that would have been inconceivable only a few days ago – might his charm and novelty so commend themselves to the seemingly less swayable Tory rank-and-file that they plump for him over Boris?

It’s very unlikely, but not absolutely impossible. After all, David Cameron beat the bookies’ favourite David Davis in the 2005 Tory leadership contest.

And Jeremy Corbyn pulled off a comparable feat even more dramatically to emerge victorious in the 2015 Labour Party ballot.

Mr Johnson and the other remaining candidates should take the threat posed by the exotic Rory Stewart very seriously.

Whatever happens, having almost overnight established himself as a formidable politician, he will be a leading figure in any Tory Cabinet – though he chops and changes as to whether he would serve under Boris.

So two cheers, at least, for Mr Stewart. He is ambitious, clever, interesting and – unusually for a modern member of his increasingly unpopular party – able to connect with people outside the Tory tribe, including the young.

To judge by last night’s generally unilluminating BBC debate, he is a bit of an oddball too – removing his tie to demonstrate that he was different to the other candidates, and stretching as though he was doing exercises

But there is a problem. If Mr Stewart were not only to reach the last two, but emerge as leader of his party and prime minister of this country, it would be nothing short of a disaster for the Tories.

His policy on Brexit threatens to bog us down in a stalemate similar to the one from which we have just escaped. I admit I have some reservations about the man.

For all his allurements, we know very little about this privileged scion of an Anglo-Scottish family whose father was a leading light in MI6.

Whereas almost everyone in the country is an expert on Boris Johnson’s widely publicised sexual shenanigans and other misdemeanours, Mr Stewart remains, for all his surface candour, a dark horse.

His closet may well be skeleton-free, but no one has so far has been given the opportunity to peer into it. (We do know he was a Labour Party member aged 18, hardly a point in his favour so far as Tory members are concerned.)

Doubtless, if he were one of the final two, Mr Stewart would be scrutinised more exactingly by the media than hitherto.

But Tory MPs would be taking a big risk if they promoted him to the shortlist tomorrow.

I’m sure he is brave and imaginative, but does he have the stiffness of resolve that is indispensable in any new leader thrown into the cauldron of Tory politics?

But much more serious than questions of character are the flaws in his Brexit policy. Everything he has said suggests he intends to re-hash Theresa May’s ill-fated deal. He has not produced a single good new idea to stir into the pot.

Unless one counts his proposal to create a representative Citizen’s Assembly which would be charged with coming up with solutions to the Brexit impasse that have eluded Parliament. It sounds like a recipe for mayhem.

Mr Stewart’s position on Brexit can be summarised as follows. As he repeated during a debate in which he scarcely distinguished himself, he believes the EU is not going to re-negotiate the Withdrawal Agreement in the tiniest degree.

It may be true the EU won’t budge. But Mr Stewart can’t be sure that, confronted with the frightening prospect of No Deal, it won’t offer last-minute concessions. You can only find out by trying.

This is my question: if tomorrow he should emerge as one of the final two – a prospect that would have been inconceivable only a few days ago – might his charm and novelty so commend themselves to the seemingly less swayable Tory rank-and-file that they plump for him over Boris?

Mr Stewart’s response is to argue that the EU won’t credit the threat of No Deal because it knows Parliament won’t permit such an outcome.

But actually Europe can’t be sure. Arch Tory Remainer and rebel Sir Oliver Letwin suggested last week that Parliament is running out of options to thwart No Deal.

Setting these considerations aside, it is surely clear that Mrs May’s deal is dead. I say that as someone who thought that, apart from the threat to lock Britain into the Customs Union ad infinitum, it had much to commend it.

But it was defeated three times in the Commons – by a record number of MPs on the first occasion.

By what inexplicable alchemy does Mr Stewart believe intransigent Democratic Unionist Party MPs and Tory headbangers can be persuaded to fall into line?

Yesterday on Radio Four’s Today Programme he claimed the result of the European Elections, disastrous for the Tories, had created a ‘shock’ which would enhance the likelihood of Mrs May’s deal being revived.

He seems to be virtually the only person in the country who believes this.

No, I’m afraid that, for all the freshness of his approach, his policy is a stale one, and would almost certainly lead to a familiar deadlock in the Commons.

Moreover, it would do nothing to reverse the haemorrhaging of support of Tory voters to the Brexit Party.

According to a new YouGov survey, almost half of card-carrying Tory members would be happy for Nigel Farage to become their leader.

Although it is possible that a Tory Party led by Mr Stewart would win over some Lib Dem voters, it wouldn’t attract those who have defected to the Brexit Party, whether from Conservative or Labour ranks.

In any general election in which Mr Stewart defended his soft version of Brexit – softer than Mrs May’s, I think – Mr Farage would take millions of votes from the Tories. The inevitable upshot would be a Corbyn government.

His closet may well be skeleton-free, but no one has so far has been given the opportunity to peer into it. (We do know he was a Labour Party member aged 18, hardly a point in his favour so far as Tory members are concerned.)

As for the Parliamentary Tory Party, Mr Stewart would exacerbate its already deep divisions.

Among his declared backers there isn’t a single Brexiteer. All are Remainers. The other candidates, including Boris, offer a mix.

Such unity as Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt or Michael Gove may bring to their party could very easily buckle under the pressure of events. Mr Stewart would start with a divided party.

And it would hardly be ideal for the modern Tory Party to present a shortlist of two men, Messrs Johnson and Stewart, both of whom went to Eton and Balliol College, Oxford.

Rory Stewart may be a breath of fresh air. He is certainly clever and engaging.

But I’m afraid he is also a divisive figure who has practically no chance of clearing up the logjam of Brexit.