Former Cabinet Minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has backed Robert Jenrick to replace Rishi Sunak as leader of the Tory Party.

Jacob Rees-Mogg has backed Robert Jenrick to replace Rishi Sunak (Image: Getty)

Kemi Badenoch and former Tory minister Robert Jenrick are the two contenders that Conservative members will be able to vote for ahead of the November 2 result.

Sir Jacob said: “I have decided to support Robert Jenrick because he understands the depth of the challenge the Conservatives face and the gumption to do something about it.”

Speaking on GB News, he added: “I think Kemi Badenoch has many virtues. She is highly capable, her campaign against woke has been extraordinarily impressive.

“I think the Conservatives need to come together after the result and support whoever wins.

“It just seems to me that Robert has that edge and the ability to lead and to get Conservative policies to the forefront of the political agenda.

“I think we lost the last election because we hadn’t done Conservative things. We put corporation tax up to 25%. We must change from that, and I think Robert will be able to do that, which is why I’m supporting him.”

Mr Jenrick, a former Tory minister had earlier said he wanted to use the leadership race to “settle some of the big questions facing our party and our country”.

In what appeared to be a swipe at his rival, the Newark MP added: “That was surely the purpose of having this long contest. Not to spend months debating personalities, not to say there will be a plan tomorrow but we don’t know what it is.

“That is a recipe for more infighting and for more loss of public trust. So what I stand for, and this does differ from some of the other candidates that have put themselves forward over the course of this contest, is I have set out very clear policy answers.”

Mr Jenrick, a former immigration minister, also warned the Conservatives would not survive if they do not “get serious” about migration.

“I say leave the European Convention on Human Rights, cap migration in the tens of thousands and regain the trust of the British public,” he added.

Meanwhile the main Conservative centrist group has said it would not endorse either of the two contenders because of concern the party risks splitting in a lurch to the right.

The Tory Reform Group, seen as the main forum for one-nation Conservatives, condemned Mrs Badenoch and Mr Jenrick for having “used rhetoric and focused on issues which are far and away from the party at its best”.

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James Cleverly’s leadership exit and the Tory Party’s abject stupidity

The Tories and their abject stupidity never ceases to amaze me. I say this as someone who wants them to be in power – as opposed to this greedy, snout-in-the-trough Labour Party mob – but who understands absolutely why they’re not. And shouldn’t be.

This week they had the chance to elect the right man or woman to lead the Conservative Party to victory at the next election, someone who would reinstate the Tories into the hearts and minds of the British people as the natural party of Government.

James Cleverly has blown his chance to unite the Tory Party (Image: PA)

And they blew it – with knobs on! The leadership candidates and their supporters tried to be too damn clever by playing tactical games with the voting system.

And all their cack handed shenanigans did was remind us of what we already know – that the Tories in their current state are useless, not fit to govern and are still fighting each other like cats in a sack.

And what’s clear is they have learned absolutely nothing having been massacred at the last election.

Because instead of choosing the person who was right to lead the party – and potentially the British people – they chose instead to try and be clever and to tactically vote OUT the person they didn’t want to go through to the final two.

And it backfired – spectacularly. In fact it backfired so badly that the one man – the centrist James Cleverley – who might have brought all factions of the party together – is now out of the leadership race.

And HE’S partly to blame for his own demise. He was so cocky, so confident of victory that (say the rumours) he and some of his supporters voted for Robert Jenrick in order to keep Kemi Badenoch out of the final two presumably because Cleverly thought he could beat Jenrick.

Now look what’s happened Cleverly – so sure he was going to be the next Tory Leader – now has egg all over his face and his dream of being PM (once Labour have wrecked the country) has turned to dust.

At least for now. Because all we can be certain about in politics at the moment is that its volatile. And whoever gets elected in the next couple of weeks THEY too could be ousted before the next election.

However where we currently stand is that this final vote now lies with 160,000 Tory members. And while I know that’s how the system works I do think the British people might have quite liked to have a say in who leads the party because I’m damn sure THEIR instincts are a whole lot more on the ball than those of Tory members and MP’s. That said I suspect the membership will prefer Kemi because she’s fearless, straight talking, and she seems to be more in tune with the immigration and cultural issues that are frustrating us all.

I know she’s gaffe prone, I know she said the wrong thing a couple of weeks ago over Maternity Pay, but that’s the thing with Kemi, she DOES say what she thinks and the electorate are gagging for a politician who tells it like it is.

Yes, she does say stuff that’s wrong and offends some people but I’d rather have someone in charge who believed what they were saying and who was looking out for us – the British people – rather than doing what they had to do to cling onto their place on the greasy pole.

And look at the alternative – Robert Jenrick – a man who strikes me as seriously weird. He always looks so desperate, so earnest. And let’s face it any man who lumbers his daughter with the middle name Thatcher has issues and should not be running a country!