Looks Like May's A Shoo-In.

[Jackdaw33]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36718196

[Gromit]

Crabb has pulled out of the race, so we will know he 2 names on the ballot paper on Thursday, not next Tuesday.

[mikey4444]

Crabb was just grandstanding, that's all.

After all, who had heard of him until IDS fell on his sword !

[DTCwordfan]

agree on that, jackdaw.

How many Labour split-offs are we going to see?

The Labour Party
The Lib-Dems
The Lab-Dems
The Dem-Labs
Christians in Europe
The Bennite Party
Welsh Socialists in Wales
The Notlobistan Workers Party
International Labourites
International Labour in Gibraltar
International Labour in Gibraltar and Norfumberland.
The Essex Socialist BusStop I don't know if I can be laid Party.

etc.

[Jackdaw33]

There are 50 votes up for grabs. Fox and Crabb have come out for May. But Gove is only 18 votes behind May so he only needs to pick up 19 of those 50 to overtake Leadsom.

[Jackdaw33]

Sorry, behind Leadsom.

[Bazile]

So that blooming woman is going to be the next PM !!!

[Jackdaw33]

If it's May v Gove then I am not betting. I have a feeling that this could be tighter than the Brexit vote.

[Bertrum]

Mikey his constituents had herd of him and some of us still remember his involvement in the expenses scandal

[DTCwordfan]

who did Dave vote for....and John Bercow?

[jourdain2]

In the middle of all this, I repeat an earlier post - who the heck is running the country? Dave is conspicuous by his absence and is in danger of aiding a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom. Someone (Dave) needs to get a grip.

Sorry, off subject a bit. Worried about winning the battle and losing the war because of useless politicians.

[Jackdaw33]

Bercow would not vote. He is not a member of the parliamentary party. As to Cammy, who knows?

[Marshwarble]

Who is running the country? Why Whitehall, of course!

[Gromit]

Naomi, read this timeline.

// 22:00 BST
Boris leaves with a key member of Team Gove to write his speech - the most of important of his life.
His pitch to become prime minister.
Around midnight
The Team Gove member takes a series of phone calls. He then makes his excuses and leaves.
Gove tries to speak to George Osborne, but can't get through.

Thursday

08:00 BST
Dominic Raab has written in the Sun, backing Boris for PM.
He says the former London mayor has got the "'Heineken effect', that refreshes the parts that more conventional politicians cannot reach".
But he cancels a planned interview on the Today programme.

Did MPs lose their taste for Boris Johnson's so-called Heineken effect?
08:00 BST
Gove formally tells his team he is going to run.
08:35 BST
The team at Greycoat Place get a call from a journalist telling them Gove is jumping ship.
"Rubbish," they tell her.
08:40 BST
They listen in horror as Sir Lynton Crosby takes a call from Gove, telling him he's running.
"I felt kicked in the stomach, it's nasty stuff. Gove is deeply ambitious and he was persuaded he didn't need Boris. It could be him. It was all about power," says one insider.
11:25 BST
Moments before Boris is about to go on stage, his small team decides he can't run.
11:50 BST
Boris Johnson announces he will not stand for the Tory leadership.

[Old_Geezer]

As a 'remainer' I figure Cameron must be miffed that he couldn't vote Johnson. Maybe he abstained instead ?

[Bertrum]

MR Cameron did not vote

[Jackdaw33]

One MP did not vote.

[Bazile]

//Who is running the country? //

Don't ask silly questions - Humphrey Appleby , of course !!

[Gromit]

// Apparently some May supporters, knowing that she was comfortably ahead, have been voting tactically for Gove to prevent Leadsom reaching the last two. //

I thought 48 votes unfathomly high. That explains it.

[Jackdaw33]

The danger I think is that if the party membership reject the will of the clear majority of MPs then we are into Corbyn territory.

[EDDIE51]

Jourdain, the country is being run just as it always has been by senior civil servants, the 'Permanent Secretaries' and the like.
These are the people who run the country no matter who happens to be in Parliament. When a new Minister is appointed, he or she's first job is to have an appointment with the Permanent Secretary of 'their' department so they can be briefed what they have to do and how to do it.These people are career civil servants and cannot be voted out at an election or sacked by a Minister . It is considered essential to have such people running the country to provide continuity in a political crisis such as we see now.