Andrea Leadsom has thrown her support behind Boris Johnson in the Conservative Party leadership contest.
Speaking to LBC on Tuesday morning, Leadsom said there were “two key reasons” she was endorsing the former foreign secretary.
“One is I think he is the best placed to get us out of the EU at the end of October. His view and mine are closely aligned there,” she said.
“Secondly, I do believe he is an election winner. He is someone who can bring the country and the party back together and take us forward in a positive way.”
Leadsom was eliminated from the contest last week after failing to win enough support from fellow Tory MPs in the first ballot.
The second round of voting takes place later today when the race will be whittled down from six to at least five.
Any candidate who fails to secure the backing of at least 33 votes will be eliminated.
The candidate who comes in last place will be kicked out of the race even if they reach that threshold.
Jeremy Hunt, Rory Stewart, Sajid Javid, Dominic Raab and Michael Gove are battling for second place behind Johnson in order to make it to the final two.
The candidates that survive today’s ballot will then face-off in a live TV debate on the BBC this evening.
Stewart’s once long-shot bid for the leadership has gained momentum and last night he received the backing of David Lidington, the de facto deputy prime minister.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4′s Today programme this morning, he said he has “no problem” being the “stop Boris” candidate, as he said he would “love” to go against Johnson in the final two.
Javid told the same programme he was “less Homer’s Iliad and more Homer Simpson” in the race to become the next prime minister.
The home secretary warned that the leadership race risked looking like a debate at the Oxford Union if the final candidates are all from similar backgrounds – unlike Javid who was educated at a comprehensive school.
“If we end up in a situation where the final two, three, four even are people from similar backgrounds with similar life experiences and it will look like a debate at the Oxford Union and I just don’t think that’s healthy for the Tory Party,” he said.