The revelation was made by LBC radio’s political commentator Theo Usherwood on Nigel Farage’s LBC show just minutes after Rory Stewart was dropped from the competition in a shock twist. Mr Usherwood said: “Team Boris wants to get rid of Michael Gove. And I think we could see that move tomorrow lunchtime.

“This is where tactical voting is going to start in earnest. “So they already got rid of one that they wanted to get rid of which was Rory Stewart. “They now need to target Gove. “And given the numbers involved it doesn’t require that much of a shift given that we can expect some of the Rory Stewart voters to go to Sajid Javid and others will go to Jeremy Hunt.

“We could easily expect it would take seven or eight Boris Johnson supporters to simply go and tick the box for Sajid Javid, with the uplift from a few of Rory Stewart’s supporters. “And he could supplant Michael Gove tomorrow lunchtime in third place. “And if that happens that will be a victory for Boris.

Rory Stewart's hopes of becoming the next prime minister were dashed after his support collapsed in the third round of voting by Tory MPs. The International Development Secretary secured just 27 votes - down 10 from Tuesday's second ballot - as Boris Johnson again took a commanding lead in the race to Number 10. Former foreign secretary Mr Johnson appears assured of being one of the two candidates who will face a vote by 160,000 Tory members to choose the next party leader and prime minister after extending his lead over nearest rival Jeremy Hunt. Mr Johnson received 143 votes, up from 126 on Tuesday, with Mr Hunt on 54, up from 46. Michael Gove was in third place, up 10 from 41 to 51 votes, while Sajid Javid picked up five extra votes to reach 38. </s> Rory Stewart said he was “never confident” but “always hopeful” as he battled to remain in the contest to be the next prime minister.

As Tory MPs vote for the second time, candidates need to secure 33 votes to survive, and Mr Stewart said he believed he had that number “if everybody does what they say”.

International Development Secretary Mr Stewart, who managed just 19 votes last week, and Home Secretary Sajid Javid, who got 23, were locked in a fight to reach the threshold.

Mr Javid said he was “quietly confident” of making it through, adding that he was “looking forward to the debate this evening” – the remaining candidates will appear on the BBC at 8pm.

The Home Secretary, the state educated son of a bus driver, urged colleagues to back him to prevent the contest looking like “a debate at the Oxford Union”.

Mr Javid, the only candidate left in the race not to have gone to Oxford University, said it would not be “healthy” for the party if all the candidates left in the contest had similar backgrounds.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If we end up in a situation where the final two, three, four even, are people from similar backgrounds with similar life experiences, it will look like a debate at the Oxford Union and I just don’t think that’s healthy for the Tory Party.”

The Home Secretary joked that his style was “less Homer’s Iliad and more Homer Simpson”.

In a sign that the contest is becoming more personal, a former aide to Mr Javid claimed Mr Stewart’s supporters were targeting the Home Secretary’s backers “urging them to vote for Rory so we can offer ‘something different’ in final two”.

Further votes on Wednesday and Thursday will see two candidates selected for the final ballot of Tory members, with frontrunner Boris Johnson almost certain to be one of them.

On Twitter, Mr Javid’s ex-special adviser Nick King added: “Saj’s dad was an immigrant. Saj went to his local comp and an FE College. Rory went to Eton and Balliol just like Boris.”

Mr Stewart, who has been forced to deny allegations that he had been a spy for MI6, suggested the claims about his background were the result of a rival “getting a bit rattled”.

His campaign has gathered momentum and won the backing of de facto deputy prime minister David Lidington, but he faces a difficult task to overhaul the vote tallies of rivals.

Mr Johnson, the clear winner in the first round of voting, will face his first televised showdown of the campaign when he appears at the BBC debate later.

He has secured even more pledges of support – including former leadership rival Andrea Leadsom – since winning 114 votes last week.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Environment Secretary Michael Gove were the only other candidates to secure more than 33 votes in the first round.

Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, who got 27 votes, said he too was now “quietly” confident of reaching 33.

In a new campaign video, Mr Raab said his love of karate and boxing had “been pretty good in terms of preparing me for other big moments”.

He highlighted the importance of education, saying “everyone should have the opportunity to go as far as their talents can take them”.

Mrs Leadsom gave her backing to Mr Johnson on Tuesday morning, telling LBC he was the “best placed to get us out of the EU at the end of October” and an “election winner”.

Meanwhile, Mr Gove, who came third in the first ballot with 37 votes, used a Times article to say the final two candidates should “believe in Brexit” and be able to deliver it and unite the Tory party.

In an apparent reference to Mr Johnson and Mr Stewart, he said: “It would be a mistake to put forward two candidates to the final round who will polarise our party.” </s> Boris Johnson's supporters are plotting to 'humiliate' Michael Gove and derail his leadership campaign today.

Mr Gove has never been forgiven for betraying Mr Johnson in the 2016 leadership contest.

And now MPs loyal to Mr Johnson are plotting the environment secretary's downfall, with one Johnson supporter saying they want him 'humiliated,' as reported by The Telegraph.

It comes as Bojo's team have also approached Sajid Javid - who came fourth in the ballot yesterday - to become chancellor, according to allies of the home secretary.

Yesterday, maverick leadership hopeful Rory Stewart was dramatically booted from the contest after coming last with just 27 votes - down from 37 on Monday - leaving four hopefuls left to fight it out.

Mr Johnson picked up support from Dominic Raab, who was evicted in the previous round, to increase his tally again from 126 to 143 - tightening his grip on the keys to Downing Street.

While Hunt came second with 54 votes, Gove came third with 51, and Javid on 38.

Finishing a disappointing fourth, Mr Javid insisted last night he was still in the race to become Prime Minister.

But Mr Johnson's team have already approached the home secretary and offered 'all sorts of jobs up to that of chancellor', if he drops out the race and backs Boris, as reported by The Times.

The remaining candidates not named Johnson are now desperately vying for Rory Stewart's backers, with pressure being put on them to support Mr Hunt to leave Mr Gove isolated.

Johnson supporters are thought to believe that facing Mr Hunt in the final two would be easier than taking on Mr Gove.

Many of Johnson's team have a 'visceral hatred' for the environment secretary and were directly accused by Mr Stewart of dirty tricks yesterday.

Speaking ahead of the vote, he told reporters the former defence secretary Gavin Williamson, who is organising Mr Johnson's campaign, was encouraging Johnson-supporting MPs to lend their votes to other candidates to manipulate the contest in a bid to determine who he would face in the final run-off.

He told reporters: 'There's also the dark arts. Gavin Williamson's proxy votes, which we don't know about.

'There are dark arts in politics and they're done with proxy votes, they're not done with someone saying 'would you please vote for this person'.'

Some Tory MPs last night said they suspected the Johnson camp of lending support to Mr Stewart in Tuesday's vote in order to get rid of Brexiteer rival Dominic Raab. </s> Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt will battle to become the next Prime Minister after Michael Gove was eliminated from the Tory leadership contest.

In the final round of voting by MPs Mr Gove was narrowly pipped to the post by Mr Hunt, who won two votes more than his rival and his place on the final ballot with Mr Johnson.

The race now enters its final stage before the party selects who will be its next leader and the country’s next Prime Minister.

What has happened so far?

The race to select the next Prime Minister officially launched on 10 June, after Theresa May stood down as Conservative party leader the week earlier.

Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Dominic Raab, Andrea Leadsom, Matt Hancock, Esther McVey, Sajid Javid, Rory Stewart and Mark Harper all accrued enough supporters to be able to enter the race.

Mrs Leadsom, Ms McVey and Mr Harper were eliminated in the first ballot after failing to win enough support to meet the threshold required.

And Matt Hancock, who came sixth in the first vote, announced he was standing down and backing Mr Johnson.

In the second ballot, Mr Raab became the next candidate to be eliminated and he also threw his weight behind Mr Johnson.

On Wednesday, International Development Secretary Rory Stewart scored the lowest number of votes in the third ballot and was also knocked out the race.

And Sajid Javid, Home Secretary, became the seventh candidate to exit the contest after winning the fewest votes in the Thursday lunchtime ballot.

What happens now?

Now that there are only two contenders remaining, Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) will begin the membership hustings process for party members to decide between the final two candidates.

Work will be under way immediately and the party will aim for the hustings to take place in all 12 regions of the UK over the course of the next four weeks.

During this time there are more live TV debates planned on BBC and Sky.

The BBC announced plans to hold a Question Time special with Fiona Bruce as well as a one-to-one interview with the final candidates and presenter Andrew Neil.

Sky News also announced plans for a head-to-head leadership debate between the final two in front of an audience of Conservative Party members.

When will we know who is Prime Minister?

During the month of hustings, in which the candidates will seek to persuade party members to back them, the choice will be put to a postal ballot.

This will mean that the entire party membership of 160,000 people will have a vote to decide which candidate they prefer.

The results will be counted and a new leader will be announced during the week beginning 22 July.

After this point, the victor will visit the Queen, who will ask them to form a Government and will formally replace Mrs May as Prime Minister. </s> LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) - Rory Stewart, a contender to succeed British Prime Minister Theresa May, said he is in talks with his rival Michael Gove about teaming up to block Boris Johnson's bid to become the country's next leader.

Johnson, the frontrunner and a strong supporter of leaving the European Union, won by far the most votes in the second round of the contest to lead the Conservative Party on Tuesday.

Stewart told the BBC: "We are talking about combining forces because it is clear that Boris is going into the last round and the question is who is best placed to sit on a stage with Boris Johnson and who is best placed to ask the testing questions that need to be asked?"

Stewart, the international development minister, had the biggest increase in support from lawmakers in the second round of the contest after a campaign appealing to voters through social media and walking tours.

A spokeswoman for Stewart said he speaks with other candidates "all the time" and accepts that at some point they will need to combine teams.

"But any team that combines, Rory wants to lead it," the spokeswoman said. "He is the only one with a chance to beat Boris in the final two and to provide the clearest choice.

"Rory's in this to win, whether on his own or with other people coming behind him, and go all the way to the final two and Number 10."

Five candidates remain in the race to succeed May. One will be eliminated later on Wednesday. The final result is expected in July. (Reporting By Andrew MacAskill; editing by Stephen Addison) </s> Rory Stewart has crashed out of the Tory leadership debate after saying "dark arts" were being used against his campaign.

The MP for Penrith and the Border accused rivals of “dark arts” and even offered backers city status as he waged a dramatic fight to stay in the race.

The surprise star was forced to tour the Commons tearoom in a last-minute bid to scoop up support.

But it wasn't enough and he lost ten MPs overnight securing just 27 supporters.

Speaking after the result Mr Stewart said: "I am so moved and inspired by the support I have received over the last few weeks - it has given me a new faith in politics, a new belief in our country.

"I didn't get enough MPs to believe today - but they will. I remain deeply committed to you and to this country."

He also said he wouldn't endorse another candidate in the race - despite admitting being in talks with Michael Gove today.

With voting under way he told the Mirror he’d picked up just two of Dominic Raab ’s 30 supporters - including one in a text at 3am.

Meanwhile he feared he would lose one of his own backers after his performance in Tuesday’s BBC debate.

That left the risk that Sajid Javid - who finished just four MPs behind Mr Stewart on Tuesday - would overtake him and knock him out.

That proved the case as Mr Javid raced ahead of the MP.

With every vote crucial, Mr Stewart even offered to give Southend in Essex city status if he became Prime Minister.

He said he “certainly hoped” he’s won over Southend West MP David Amess - and even offered to do the same for other MPs.

He said: “More towns, definitely definitely. Anyone who wants to vote for me... anyone can be a city.”

It wasn’t clear if he was joking.

He said: ”There's the dark arts. Gavin Williamson’s proxy votes, which we don’t know about. He has people who have 5 or 10 proxy votes. So some very interesting things could happen. We don’t know."

Mr Williamson declined to comment on the "dark arts" claims.

Mr Stewart's outsider race for Number 10 has certainly brought colour to the Tory leadership race otherwise dominated by Boris Johnson.

The No 10 hopeful presented himself as an outsider who could both deliver Brexit and transform the Conservatives.

He has captured the public imagination by taking to the streets to talk to ordinary Britons rather than just his fellow Tory MPs.

And he has not shied away from comparisons with Jeremy Corbyn ’s campaigning style in his attempts to shake up his party.

Stewart has made honesty the central theme of his campaign and used bizarre analogies involving bins to attack his rivals on Brexit.

A maverick at heart, while Tory rivals confessed to taking cocaine and marijuana, he admitted to smoking opium at an Iranian wedding.

And while he insists he is Conservative to his core - during the Thatcher years he was a Labour member.

But in many ways, 46-year-old is as establishment as they come.

Born in Hong Kong, he grew up in the Far East and in a grand house in the Scottish Borders and was schooled at Eton, before doing his gap year in his father’s Black Watch regiment.

He studied politics, philosophy and economics at Balliol College in Oxford, and spent a summer tutoring Princes William and Harry, with whom he has kept in touch.

Stewart’s life however, took an adventurous twist when he became a diplomat himself, working in Indonesia and the Balkans after university, earning the nickname “Florence of Belgravia”.

Rumours have always swirled about whether he followed his father - who rose to number 2 in MI6 - into the intelligence services.

Although he denied this week he had ever been a spy, he has done little to discourage speculation by admitting if he had been, the law would prevent him answering the question honestly.

After leaving the Foreign Office in 2000 he went off grid and walked 6,000 miles across Asia before serving as a deputy governor in Iraq following the 2003 invasion and then teaming up with Prince Charles to set up a charity in Afghanistan.

There he met his American wife Shoshana Clark - at the time married to somebody else - and sold the rights to his life story to Brad Pitt, with Orlando Bloom lined up to play him.

The project reportedly stalled when he became a Tory MP.

His election for Penrith and The Border was not without controversy after he referred to his constituents as “primitives who hold up their trousers with string”.

As Prisons Minister, he promised to quit if he failed to reduce the level of drugs and violence in prison within a year - but was moved to International Development Secretary just before the time was up.

Stewart is described by his supporters as “a disruptor” - doing to Boris Johnson what he has done to others.

But that race is over. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Rory Stewart knocked out of contest

Four men are left in the race to be next prime minister after Rory Stewart was knocked out.

The international development secretary was eliminated after coming last with 27 votes, 10 fewer than last time.

He said his warnings about a no-deal Brexit "probably proved to be truths people weren't quite ready to hear".

Boris Johnson topped the vote again with 143 votes, 17 more than last time. Jeremy Hunt came second with 54, Michael Gove got 51 and Sajid Javid 38.

A fourth round of voting will take place on Thursday.

Mr Stewart started as a rank outsider in the race but gained support on the back of an unusual campaign strategy.

Touring the country for pop-up meetings, which were promoted and recorded on social media, he drew large crowds and won the backing of several senior cabinet ministers.

He had accused other candidates, including Mr Johnson, of lacking realism over Brexit and making undeliverable promises.

After his elimination, he tweeted that he had been "inspired" by the support he received which had rekindled his faith and belief in politics.

Mr Stewart's vote tally fell from Tuesday - following a live BBC TV debate in which he summed up his own performance as "lacklustre".

There have also been suggestions of tactical voting - "dark arts" as he called them - with candidates lending votes to others in order to help eliminate certain rivals.

One MP supporting Mr Stewart claimed he had been "let down" by "thieving, mendacious, lying" colleagues who had switched.

Following his exit, Mr Stewart - MP for Penrith and The Border - told the BBC he was "disappointed" and believed his party "didn't seem ready to hear his message" about Brexit and the need to seek out the centre ground.

He said his arguments during the campaign that an alternative Brexit deal was not on offer from the EU, and a no deal would be catastrophic, were "probably truths people were not quite ready to hear, but I still think they are truths".

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Stewart: Tories 'not ready' for no-deal warnings

He defended his attacks on Mr Johnson, saying the gravity of the situation meant it was right to warn that the frontrunner risked "letting down" his supporters over Brexit.

"These are the times to ask these questions, but I agree they are uncomfortable questions," he said.

"People felt they were exposing divisions in the party they were not comfortable with.

"My conclusion is that you don't unify a family or a party by pretending to agree when you disagree. You unify through honesty and trust."

Mr Stewart, who has ruled out serving under Mr Johnson because of their differences over Brexit, added "I appear to have written my cabinet resignation letter."

He said he had not decided who to now support.

Home Secretary Mr Javid, who leapfrogged Mr Stewart in Wednesday's poll after gaining five votes on his second round tally, thanked Mr Stewart for his contribution to the campaign.

Mr Javid said he was pleased to make it through into the next round, adding that he could provide "constructive competition" to frontrunner Boris Johnson if he made it into the final two.

"People are crying out for change, if we don't offer change ourselves, they'll vote for change in the form of Corbyn - and I can be that agent of change", he said.

Reacting to his third consecutive second place, Mr Hunt said the "stakes were too high to allow someone to sail through untested".

Liam Fox, who is backing Foreign Secretary Mr Hunt, said the surviving candidates were the four most experienced men in the field and this is what people expected all along.

Tory MP Johnny Mercer, who is backing Mr Johnson, insisted there was "no complacency" despite his large lead, telling BBC News "there is still work to do".

Education Secretary Damian Hinds said Mr Gove had "closed the gap" on Mr Hunt in second place and was gaining momentum.

He said the environment secretary had the experience, the vision and the plan to deliver Brexit that could unite the country.

Unless another candidate drops out, there will be a fifth ballot on Thursday evening to determine the final two candidates who will go forward into a run-off of the party's 160,000 or so members.

The winner will be announced in the week of 22 July. </s> Rory Stewart has topped a poll for the best performance in the BBC leadership debate.

Although the International Development Secretary was judged to have given the most impressive performance by the general public, Tory voters put him in third place after Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt.

But one in three of all viewers (35%) believed Mr Stewart made the biggest splash in the debate, according to a YouGov poll, despite front-runner Mr Johnson making his first appearance.

Mr Johnson impressed 21% of all viewers, putting him in second place with all viewers, followed by Jeremy Hunt with 14%.

Michael Gove mustered 9% support, Sajid Javid got 5% and the remaining 16% of the audience could not pick a candidate who outshone the others.

Chris Curtis, political research manager at YouGov, said the poll showed Mr Stewart was popular with the general public mainly because of his support among Remain voters.

He said: “Amongst the public as a whole, there are quite a lot of Remain voters and their preferred candidate is Rory Stewart – about 57% support him.

“But while Remain voters make up a large chunk of the general population, they are a small chunk of Tory voters and an even smaller chunk of Tory members.

“So it looks like Rory Stewart has done a good job of appealing to people who don’t matter in this race, unfortunately.

“People think he is charismatic and interesting but if you charismatically and interestingly say things your electorate disagrees with it will not get you very far.”

Just over one in three (34%) viewers who were Conservative voters gave Mr Johnson the top spot, one in five (20%) preferred Mr Hunt and 18% backed Mr Stewart.

Mr Curtis said higher support for Mr Johnson among Conservative voters again reflected the audience’s view on Brexit.

“The main thing that is driving the difference between support for candidates among the general public and among Tory voters is the issue of Brexit,” he said.

“Boris is the candidate who among Leave voters and the Conservative Party membership is seen as most in line with their position on Brexit.

“Whether that is leaving with no deal if we have to, or making sure the UK leaves the EU on October 31, Boris is seen as the most likely to be able to do that.”

Similar to the overall picture, some 12% of Tory voters thought Mr Gove performed best and Mr Javid again brought up the rear on 5%.

The next Conservative leader will be chosen by the 130,000 members of the Conservative Party, and not by the general public. </s> A secret vote among Tory lawmakers on Tuesday saw former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab drop out of the race for party leader and gaffe-prone Boris Johnson extend his lead over the remaining four rivals.

Johnson, who served as London mayor and foreign secretary in Theresa May's government, won 126 out 313 votes on Tuesday. This was 12 more votes than in the first poll held last Thursday.

The Tory lawmakers were set to hold several more votes to trim the candidate list down to two names. Some 160,000 members of the UK Conservative party will then decide on the next party leader, who is virtually guaranteed to become next prime minister.

Johnson has a strong public profile based on his career as a political columnist and his leading role in the 2016 campaign to leave the European Union. He also has deep ties inside the Tory party establishment as a son of a Conservative party politician and alumni of Eton and Oxford. Johnson attended the two elite schools together with former prime minister David Cameron.

Johnson's flamboyant personality has helped him shrug off multiple scandals during his time in the public eye, including lying about an extramarital affair, flippant descriptions of Africans, gays, and Muslim women, and jokes about "dead bodies" in Libya.

The 54-year-old politician said he was ready to take the UK out of the EU by October 31 deadline, whether or not a deal was in place. He also threatened to withhold €44 billion ($50 billion) in divorce payments that the UK owes the EU.

The latest score puts Johnson far ahead his closest rival, Jeremy Hunt. Hunt, who succeeded Johnson as foreign secretary and picked up 46 of Tory lawmakers' votes on Tuesday. He is followed by Environment Minister Michael Gove with 41, Internal Development Minister Rory Stewart with 37, and Home Secretary Sajid Javid, who only managed to meet the 33-vote threshold allowing him to continue the race.

Raab was eliminated after scoring only 30 votes.

Moderate Rory Stewart, who was dubbed as an outsider in the race, boosted his score by 18 votes compared to his last week's score. Stewart is the only candidate who is openly in favor of trying to save the divorce deal negotiated by the current prime minister Theresa May.

On Tuesday, he accused Johnson of peddling "fairy tales" about solving the Brexit issue.

A new prime minister should be voted in by the end of July.

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Rory Stewart is eliminated after coming in fifth place in today's third round voting. The front runner remains Boris Johnson. Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, and Sajid Javid came in second, third, and fourth respectively. A fourth round will be taken tomorrow.