When Robert Jenrick strode onto the stage at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, he wasted no time in setting out his Midlands credentials. As the audience at the International Convention Centre applauded,

Cleverly’s strong speech to last week’s Tory conference in Birmingham has blown the fight to succeed Rishi Sunak wide open, as the party’s 121 MPs prepare to whittle down four candidates to a shortlist of two.

The former Home Secretary is now second amongst Conservative Party members, according to a poll Conservative Home. But crucially, the grassroots Tory website asked who would win if each of the candidates made the final two.

James Cleverly has overtaken Robert Jenrick for the first time in polling of Tory grassroots. A Conservative Home survey of activists conducted over the two days after the party conference last week in Birmingham showed Mr Cleverly leapfrogging Mr Jenrick.