Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom to fight out Tory leadership battle as Michael Gove loses

Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom will battle it out to be Prime Minister after securing the most votes in the Tory leadership election.

May, considered to be the frontrunner, secured 199 votes from Conservative MPs while Leadsom came second with 84, and Gove came last with 46.

Andrea Leadsom ‘doesn’t like’ gay marriage law ‘because it upsets Christians’

Stephen Crabb dropped out of the race on Tuesday, while Liam Fox was eliminated.

The two remaining MPs were on the opposite sides of the EU referendum debate, with Leadsom a prominent member of the Vote Leave campaign.


But the Home Secretary has been the favourite since the nominations were entered in the Conservative leadership race and has secured the endorsement of more than 60% of voting politicians.

Michael Gove finished third in the leadership race (Picture: EPA/WILL OLIVER)

The vote will now pass on to the Conservative membership – which sits at around 150,000 people.



The party has confirmed the new leader will be in office by September 9 with the party conference set to take place at the beginning of October.

Theresa May on securing the vote ‘I am delighted to have won so much support from my colleagues. I have won votes from MPs across the party. ‘This vote shows that the Conservative Party can come together and under my leadership it will. ‘Now will be the time for me and my team to take our case out to the country.’ I’ve always said there should be a proper contest. Now is the time for me and my team to take our case out to members in the country (2/4) — Theresa May (@TheresaMay2016) July 7, 2016 I'm also pleased that our next Prime Minister will be a woman – and look forward to a good contest with my colleague @AndreaLeadsom (4/4) — Theresa May (@TheresaMay2016) July 7, 2016

It brings to an end an unsuccessful bid by Gove to be the next party leader.

His nomination was mired in controversy, announced at the eleventh hour and effectively ending fellow Brexit supporter Boris Johnson’s chances.

Stephen Crabb dropped out of the leadership race after the first round of voting (Picture: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Justice Secretary’s campaign manager Nick Boles later text MPs telling them his allies were ‘seriously frightened’ at the prospect of Leadsom becoming Prime Minister.

Winning the MPs’ ballot doesn’t necessarily guarantee the support of members.

Iain Duncan Smith won the Tory leadership in 2001 despite losing out to Ken Clarke in the initial round of voting.

Leadsom has faced controversy on her views about gay marriage and today clarified she abstained from a vote on the law because it upset Christians.

While, May was criticised on the weekend when she refused to rule out if EU citizens would be forced to leave the UK in the event of a Brexit.

Their success in securing the top two slots on the ballot means the UK will have its first female Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher resigned in 1990.

David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister after he lost the EU referendum vote (Picture: REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth)

Speaking outside the House of Commons today, Mr Gove said he was ‘naturally disappointed’ not to have secured enough votes.

He said Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom are both ‘formidable politicians’ and ‘deserve’ to be in the final.

He added: ‘Whoever the next prime minister of this country will be, it will be a female prime minister and a female prime minister who has formidable skills and I know whichever one of the two wins they will lead this country well.

How the final vote went Theresa May 199 Andrea Leadsom 84 Michael Gove 46 Share

‘It’s now up to the Conservative Party and indeed the wider country to assess the skills, the abilities and the leadership potential of these two candidates.

‘I hope over the course of the next few weeks we will have an opportunity to have a debate about the direction in which the country should go, which will be civilised, inclusive, positive and optimistic.’

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