Her strong showing does not guarantee she will eventually reside at 10 Downing St., however, as lawmakers will narrow the field to two candidates and then put the matter to a vote before the entire party membership.
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Andrew Turner is backing Andrew Leadsom in the Tory leadership battle, against Michael Gove and Theresa May.
The storm erupted after the Justice Secretary was confronted at election hustings over the texts sent by Mr Boles to scores of MPs. He said he had stepped down on order to speed up the process of choosing David Cameron’s successor as prime minister.
However, an MP who is supporting Mr Gove said he handled the situation well and the mention of the text was not a key moment of the meeting.
Theresa May, the current Home Secretary, gained the vote of 165 MPs. It is overwhelmingly likely that she will be, and if she does I will sleep easily at night.
Steve Turner, assistant general secretary of Unite, said: “Ms Leadsom must now make her position unequivocally clear – state now that she supports basic rights for the UK’s workers and will fight to protect these in the Brexit negotiations”.
It comes as more detail emerges of Leadsom’s time in the City, with her campaign releasing a CV in response to suggestions she may have been more junior than claimed.
“There should be no deals, no tactical voting, and no coronation”, she said.
The minister told MPs that they could come to see a summary of her tax affairs personally if they wanted to.
Energy Minister, Andrea Leadsom made second place with 66 MPs whilst Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary ended up in third place, with support of just 48 MPs.
In the highly entertaining clip, Clarke also describes Theresa May as a “bloody hard woman”.
She is expected to be confirmed on Thursday as one of the two contenders chosen by MPs to go forward in a vote of around 150,000 Conservative members to elect a new leader – and prime minister – on September 9.
There is another female candidate in second place.
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In a statement ahead of an MPs’ hustings on Wednesday evening, Mrs May said that Tuesday’s vote showed she was the only candidate able to “unite our party and the country, to negotiate the best possible deal as we leave the European Union, and to make Britain work for everyone”.
