Home secretary backed by 165 MPs and Leadsom comes second as Liam Fox is knocked out and Stephen Crabb withdraws

Theresa May has swept to victory in the first round of voting in the Conservative leadership race, winning the support of 165 of her party’s MPs, placing her far ahead of her closest rival, Andrea Leadsom.

Brexit live: Theresa May wins first round of Tory party leadership election Read more

The result means the home secretary is almost certain to be among the final two candidates selected by Tory politicians to be put forward for a vote by the grassroots of the party.

Leadsom secured the backing of 66 MPs, including many Eurosceptic figures who want to see someone who campaigned to leave the EU in charge of negotiating Britain’s exit.

She was followed by Michael Gove, with 48 votes, and Stephen Crabb, with 34. The fifth-placed candidate, who has been knocked out of the race, was the former defence secretary Liam Fox, on 16 votes. Crabb withdrew from the race about 90 minutes after the results were announced, saying he would support May and that she was “the only person who can unite our party and form a strong government at this serious moment”.

May said she was pleased by the result and very grateful to her colleagues, adding: “There is a big job before us: to unite our party and the country, to negotiate the best possible deal as we leave the EU, and to make Britain work for everyone.”

The result is a major blow for Gove, the justice secretary, who wrecked Boris Johnson’s campaign for leadership by abandoning him at the last moment in order to run himself.

The former London mayor endorsed Leadsom on Monday night in a move that is likely to have attracted a number of other leave campaigners to her campaign.

David Burrowes, who is supporting Leadsom, said: “We look like we are heading for an all-women shortlist. That is exciting, uplifting and energising for members.”



The energy secretary, Amber Rudd, who is backing May, said her candidate had secured half of all MPs. “It shows she’s the one who can unite the party. The other candidates got particular sectors but she’s got remain and leave, north and south. I think someone with such a broad reach of support will be right for the country.”

Some Johnson supporters were furious with Gove, with the MP Ben Wallace attacking him as having an “emotional need to gossip”, particularly after a drink, while Jake Berry tweeted that there was “a very deep pit reserved in hell” for people like him.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The five candidates in the first round of voting (L to R): Fox, May, Crabb, Leadsom and Gove. Photograph: PA

Asked on Sky News why he was not backing Gove, Johnson smiled and said: “Because Andrea Leadsom, I think, has all the qualities that you need at the moment. She’s got a lot of zap, a lot of drive, and all the experience.

“Plus I think she can articulate what’s needed at the moment, which is a bit of an antidote to some of the gloom and negativity and misunderstanding about what the Brexit vote means. Because some people think that it’s the end of the world. It’s not. On the contrary, it’s a massive opportunity for this country.”

Johnson voted along with hundreds of Tory MPs in a special room set up on parliament’s committee corridor, outside which supporters of each candidate stood with leaflets, stickers and badges. Sources said that 80% of the party had already cast their vote by halfway through the day.

Many joked about Ken Clarke, the former Conservative chancellor, being caught on camera as he criticised each of the leadership candidates, describing May as a “bloody difficult woman”.

Asked if David Cameron shared that view, the prime minister’s spokeswoman replied that he did not. “He has found she has done a very good job as home secretary and they have worked very closely together on a whole range of issues,” she said.

Asked if this amounted to an endorsement, the spokeswoman added: “I think it reflects the working relationship between prime minister and home secretary. It’s not that different to how he works with other cabinet ministers.”

The vote followed two sets of hustings in parliament on Monday night after which many Conservative MPs discussed the candidates in House of Commons bars.

All five candidates faced a packed room at 5.30pm organised by the backbench 1922 Committee, in which they took turns to speak and field questions for 20 minutes each. They then took part in half-hour sessions with the party’s 2020 group, which has members from the more progressive end of the party.

All of the candidates focused on the issue of life chances, with some MPs saying that Leadsom lost the room when she started talking about attachment theory and the brains of newborns, as she laid out her “three Bs - Brussels, banks and babies”. Others said that Fox and Gove had given the strongest performance, with May and Crabb both solid.