JEREMY HUNT launched the desperate race to replace Theresa May yesterday with a rallying cry for the Tories to “be the party for everyone”.
In a blatant pitch for the top job he said the Conservatives couldn’t be about “money, money, money” but had to demonstrate a “burning social mission” to unify the country.
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It came just hours after the PM vowed to go if her Brexit deal passes and infuriated senior Mrs May loyalists.
But four other Tories also made their moves ahead of weeks of infighting among leadership contenders.
Party sources said as many as THIRTY Tory Ministers or MPs are considering running for Downing Street.
Arch Brexiteer Dominic Raab positioned himself as the ‘No Deal’ candidate by urging the PM to go back to Brussels and demand fresh concessions on the Irish ‘backstop’.
Treasury chief secretary Liz Truss made a thinly veiled grab for the Eurosceptic vote by saying she would like a Canada-style free trade deal with the EU.
Separately ex-Minister Justine Greening tore into Boris Johnson – saying the party needed a leader from the “2020s – not the 1920s”.
And Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd turned heads by promising to take action to address poverty levels in the country.
Speaking in the Commons, she promised Labour MPs she would fight for more money in the Spending Review to look at “what more can be done”.
LIGHTNING NO10 BID
Theresa May fell on her sword on Wednesday and pledged to quit after less than three tumultuous years if Tory MPs back her Brexit deal.
Ladbrokes installed Environment Secretary Michael Gove as joint favourite at 4/1 with Boris Johnson. Jeremy Hunt is 8/1 with Mr Raab and Home Secretary Sajid Javid at 10/1.
Allies of the Home Secretary were yesterday privately rubbishing claims he was floating the idea of a leadership “dream ticket” with Mr Gove to shut out Boris Johnson.
A senior Tory source described Mr Javid and Gove as Chancellor as a “grown up and sensible solution”.
They said: “We know Michael Gove’s limitations in terms of public appeal, Lynton Crosby made that very clear in 2014.
“He has some clear challenges to get over the line without many of the Brexit supporters who will never forgive what happened with Boris Johnson in 2016.
“Sajid Javid has broad support around the country, the polling evidence proves that. And the fact he has a back story that no one else in the party has.”
But Tory insiders said Jeremy Hunt – the former Health Secretary – is the clear front-runner after months spent quietly building a campaign.
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Close friend Philip Dunne MP – the former Health Minister – is trying to drum up support with some claiming the Foreign Secretary is boasting of having signed up “100 MPs”.
The Sun earlier this month revealed Mr Hunt was holding secret breakfast meetings with ministers to woo MPs.
He has billed himself as a unity candidate and has impressed rivals with his pitch to camps on either side of the Brexit divide. One said: “He tells Remainers he wants to achieve compromise
“But when he courts the Brexiteers, he gives them a very clear narrative that he is the only person who can deliver Brexit because of his reach across the party.”
TORIES’ ‘BURNING SOCIAL MISSION’
Speaking to the Evening Standard yesterday he positioned himself as the clear ‘continuity candidate’ and said the Conservatives had to win the “battle of values” against Labour.
He said the battles to repair the public finances and deliver Brexit since 2010 meant neither David Cameron nor Theresa May had got the public recognition for their One Nation beliefs.
And he said: “We have never really had a chance to show the British people what One Nation Conservatism can be.
“That I think has to be our mission because if we don’t win the battle of values we won’t win over young people.
“And young people are not just the future of the country, they are the future of the Conservative Party.”
One furious Tory insider said the interview was “unedifying” given Theresa May had just been forced out the door.
But one senior MP said: “If you say you are going to go like she did they start writing your obituary.
“She fired the starting gun on all this.”
‘No one’ tops poll
BRITS have been left unimpressed by the Tory leadership frontrunners, a poll revealed.
Some 60 per cent of voters want Theresa May to quit if her Brexit plan flops again today.
And nearly half (48 per cent) want her gone even if she defies the odds and gets her Withdrawal Agreement through.
But none of the Tory MPs hoping to snatch her crown is popular with the public, the Sky Data survey found.
Boris Johnson topped the poll, even though he was only backed by 20 per cent of the 2,091 people surveyed.
Amber Rudd, Michael Gove and Sajid Javid were all tied in second place on 8 per cent.
Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, was next on 7 per cent.
But they were all beaten by “none of the above” which was backed by 49 per cent of Brits.
Mrs May has already promised her warring MPs that she will quit as she begged them to support her Brexit plan at the third attempt.
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