On Wednesday, Conservative MPs will whittle down the leadership candidates from six to four, in the first stage of a long contest for the next Conservative Party Leader.
This is the first stage of the decision-making process which began after Rishi Sunak resigned, in which a winner will not emerge until November 2.
The six candidates in the running to replace Rishi Sunak include Priti Patel, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Mel Stride and Tom Tugendhat.
We in partnership with Facts4EU analysed all six candidates based on 'Brexit criteria' and ranks them.
The review of the six candidates is based on their records on the Referendum decision to leave the European Union, the subsequent moves in Parliament to negate this, and the likelihood (or not) of a firm commitment to Brexit being delivered in full if they win power.
How candidates voted in the Referendum
First, all six are MPs in constituencies which voted to leave the EU in 2016. However, Jenrick, Stride, and Tugendhat voted Remain in 2016.
Mrs May’s sell-out deal with the EU
Out of the 28 Tory MPs who defied massive, long pressure to persuade them to vote in favour of Theresa May's sell-out-deal with the EU on three occasions, only one of the six candidates was among them- Priti Patel.
The 28 so-called 'Spartans' voters were key to May's failure to push through her sell-out deal and all the other five candidates voted for May's deal in every single round of votes.
Remainers take control of the House of Commons order book
In March 2019, five of the six contenders voted against proposals such as UK membership of the EU Customs Union as Remainer MPs were able to take control of the House of Commons order book on several occasions.
Tom Tugendhat abstained at least twice, firstly on the UK joining the EU Customs Union and secondly, on Nick Boles’ proposal that the UK join a “Common Market 2.0”.
All six voted for the Trade & Cooperation Agreement.
Windsor Framework
The Windsor Framework puts part of the UK under EU laws, without representation, and with final jurisdiction lying with the European Court of Justice.
At the time, James Cleverly was Foreign Secretary and it was under his ministry which the Windsor Framework was negotiated.
Only 29 MPs overall voted against, one of them Priti Patel. All other leadership contenders voted in favour.
Kemi Badenoch and the retention of EU laws
It was under Badenoch’s ministry that the “sunset clause” for EU retained laws was scrapped. This ran contrary to Rishi Sunak’s promise during his own leadership campaign in the summer of 2022.
The sunset clause was supposed to have been triggered automatically at the end of last year. Today we continue to have tens of thousands of EU laws which have not been repealed or changed.
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Based on these outlined 'Brexit criteria' out of the six candidates, Priti Patel would be the top candidate being the only candidate to have voted to leave in the 2016 Referendum, not voted for May's 'sell-out' deal, not voted for the commons takeover and not voted for the Windsor framework.
But, based on current polling for the Telegraph, among Conservative Party Members, Robert Jenrick (36%) appears to be the favourite closely followed by Kemi Badenoch (35%).
This is followed by James Cleverly (18%), Priti Patel (9%) and finally, Mel Stride (4%).
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