EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockIt felt like James Cleverly made the most of his moment today.The two frontrunners in this leadership race, Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick, have each had difficult days at this conference.On Sunday, Kemi Badenoch got herself in a mess about maternity pay.On Tuesday, Robert Jenrick provoked rage among some – including his rival and former soldier Tom Tugendhat – with his remarks about UK special forces and human rights laws. Make no mistake – both Jenrick and Badenoch are popular in the party. Both exude an anger and contempt for Labour, and a vision for their Conservative alternatives and, yes, frontrunners are there to be dislodged.And they are still the frontrunners.But I will leave Birmingham pondering that it is possible – as this race enters its next phase – that one of them is dislodged from first or second place, to be replaced by James Cleverly.A long race it has been, beginning when the Conservatives lost the general election in July, if not before.And it is not due to finish until the start of November.Next week, Conservative MPs will whittle a quartet down to a pair, and the final two will then have a few weeks to win over the wider Tory party membership. Getty ImagesIt has meant these few days at conference have had a curious feel – the candidates seeking to prove to their fellow MPs that they are popular with the membership, fully aware that unless they win over enough MPs the wider party will never get a say on them anyway.And so from before breakfast until the early hours, each and every day, the canvassing has been happening.The selfies and the smiles, among the largest concentration of Conservatives in one place in this race.James Cleverly channelled Ronald Reagan, Gordon Brown and Barack Obama – stealing lines from each – his pitch leaning on all the classic tools of rhetoric and argument building.There were sections that swept from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other, and a distinctive positivity that stood out from his rivals.Whether that has an impact is another question – let’s see.For assiduous followers of this contest, the arguments from Jenrick, Badenoch and Tugendhat will have felt familiar.Each …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockIt felt like James Cleverly made the most of his moment today.The two frontrunners in this leadership race, Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick, have each had difficult days at this conference.On Sunday, Kemi Badenoch got herself in a mess about maternity pay.On Tuesday, Robert Jenrick provoked rage among some – including his rival and former soldier Tom Tugendhat – with his remarks about UK special forces and human rights laws. Make no mistake – both Jenrick and Badenoch are popular in the party. Both exude an anger and contempt for Labour, and a vision for their Conservative alternatives and, yes, frontrunners are there to be dislodged.And they are still the frontrunners.But I will leave Birmingham pondering that it is possible – as this race enters its next phase – that one of them is dislodged from first or second place, to be replaced by James Cleverly.A long race it has been, beginning when the Conservatives lost the general election in July, if not before.And it is not due to finish until the start of November.Next week, Conservative MPs will whittle a quartet down to a pair, and the final two will then have a few weeks to win over the wider Tory party membership. Getty ImagesIt has meant these few days at conference have had a curious feel – the candidates seeking to prove to their fellow MPs that they are popular with the membership, fully aware that unless they win over enough MPs the wider party will never get a say on them anyway.And so from before breakfast until the early hours, each and every day, the canvassing has been happening.The selfies and the smiles, among the largest concentration of Conservatives in one place in this race.James Cleverly channelled Ronald Reagan, Gordon Brown and Barack Obama – stealing lines from each – his pitch leaning on all the classic tools of rhetoric and argument building.There were sections that swept from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other, and a distinctive positivity that stood out from his rivals.Whether that has an impact is another question – let’s see.For assiduous followers of this contest, the arguments from Jenrick, Badenoch and Tugendhat will have felt familiar.Each …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
