James Cleverly is a favourite to be next Conservative leader (Image: Getty)

       CANDIDATES hoping to become the next Conservative leader are to spend the summer break campaigning across the country after MPs decided to hold a lengthy contest.

       Tory MPs are also considering a radical plan to cut the number of contenders to four before Parliament breaks up for the summer, to avoid the “chaos” that would result from a larger number vying for support over the holidays.

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       Suggestions that party members could be excluded from the contest have been ruled out, with senior MPs determined to avoid a “coronation or stitch up”.

       Under Conservative Party rules, Tory MPs will whittle the candidates to replace Rishi Sunak down to two options, which are then put to a vote of party members.

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       In theory, this stage of the contest could be completed before the House of Commons breaks up for a summer recess at the end of July, but a consensus has emerged among Conservative MPs that they will take their time. It means MPs are unlikely to pick the final two before Parliament returns in September.

       But they are considering a plan to eliminate “no hoper” candidates quickly, so that only frontrunners remain.

       This would leave around four candidates who would be expected to campaign across the country over the summer period in a bid to win over both MPs and activists.

       A senior Conservative said: “The party membership will get a choice. We are not going to go down the route of a coronation or a stitch up.

       “Otherwise, all options are on the table.”

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       Arrangements are set to be confirmed by the executive of the 1922 Committee, which represents backbench Tory MPs. Candidates expected to stand include former Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, ex-Security Minister Tom Tugendhat, former Home Secretary James Cleverly and former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick.

       Former West Midlands Tory Mayor Andy Street urges his party to resist the temptation to hold a swift “knee-jerk” leadership election that could mean a lurch to the right.

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       He said: “The Conservative Party lost a lot of votes to Reform, therefore the instinctive conclusion might be that we should have a swift leadership election to appoint a candidate from the right - and potentially even look at how we better integrate with Nigel Farage and Reform.

       “But life isn’t that simple, and certainly in this case I believe that a knee-jerk reaction would be a grave error that leaves the Tory party out of power for over a decade.”

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