Tory grandees to tighten their leadership contest rules to stop ‘self-promotion’
TORY grandees are to tighten the rules of the mushrooming Tory leadership contest after candidates were accused of entering it just for self-promotion.
Eleven senior Tory MPs have already declared they are running, with the number set to grow to as many as 15 before its official start in 10 days time.
Several of the candidates outside of the Cabinet are seen to have no hope of winning, and former Tory leader Iain Duncan-Smith delcared the crowded field as “chaos”.
Amid fears that it could take many weeks of MPs’ voting to whittle the candidates down to just two for members to pick from, Tory MPs’ ruling 1922 Committee pledged to step in to raise the bar to enter it.
Its executive secretary Nigel Evans told The Sun: “We are going to look at the rules on Tuesday and decide whether candidates will need more than just a proposer and seconder but a list of backers as well if they want to stand.
“The leadership process shouldn’t just be used and abused by people to raise their profile in the hope of getting a Cabinet job.”
Other big Tory figures are still hunting around for better candidates to join the race.
The Sun has also learned that Scots Tory leader Ruth Davidson has discussed with friends whether to group behind Penny Mordaunt.
The new Defence Secretary is still weighing up whether to throw her hat in the ring, and will decide next week.
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Ms Davidson is said to have told friends that the party needs to pick “a who isn’t mad”, and 46 year-old Ms Mordaunt fits that bill.
Other Tory MPs want the committee to ban anyone from running unless they have at least 10 nominations.
And rather than knocking out one contender in every round of voting, they want two or three to go to speed up the process so a new PM can be in place by the end of July.
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