“We need to recognise that there is only one candidate in a position to unite our party.”
Leadsom came second with 66, followed by Gove on 48 and Crabb on 34.
An awesome responsibility will greet the eventual winner. The new Prime Minister must rise to the greatest national challenge since that which confronted Churchill.
“I think that I’m somebody with a strong grasp of some of the social and economic divisions in our country and with a sense of direction for the future.”
“We risk splitting the Party.”
The Home Secretary’s camp seems to grasp that she can only win with legitimacy if the contest goes all the way – and she defeats a pro-Leave candidate fair and square.
An under-reported contributor to this week’s events is that they aren’t getting enough sleep.
Fox looks marooned. Gove is fighting to stay afloat…and the wind is in the sails of the Energy Minister.
Plus: Leadsom comes up on the rails. Why men should never wear red trousers. And: 100 years on from the Battle of the Somme.
Today, the Home Secretary’s distance and difference from the two men who have run the Government and the two others who planned to succeed them is serving her in good stead.
Great entertainment, perhaps; baleful overtones for Party and country, certainly.
“And the blend of qualities I bring are exactly those that are needed if we are to get through the difficult circumstances we are in: resilience, optimism, humility, strength.”
Endorsements don’t matter all that much. But the tone and flavour of coverage does – what stories are selected; how they are written; how they are projected.
The case for Crabb. He knows that we must speak for everyone, whether they grew up on a country estate or a council estate.