Race for No 10: Javid eliminated as Gove leapfrogs Hunt into second
The next few hours will now see fevered attempts in the Gove and Hunt camps to get the supporters of Sajid Javid on-side.
Thursday 20 June 2019 21:26, UK
The race to make the final two of the Tory leadership contest and take on Boris Johnson in the last stage is on a knife-edge after the latest round of voting.
Michael Gove has overtaken Jeremy Hunt for the first time, getting 61 votes to Mr Hunt's 59.
Sajid Javid finished last with 34 votes and has now been eliminated.
It was another victory for frontrunner Boris Johnson, who had the support of 157 MPs, more than half of the party.
He tweeted: "Delighted to have the support of over half of all Conservative MPs in the fourth ballot. I am incredibly grateful, but we have much more work to do."
Mr Gove wrote on Twitter that it was "all to play for", adding: "If I make the final two I look forward to having a civilised debate of ideas about the future of our country."
Mr Hunt said Tory MPs now faced a "critical decision" and he offered "unity over division".
"I will put Boris through his paces and then bring our party and country back together," he tweeted.
Mr Javid said he was "truly humbled" by the support he had received.
"We ran to win, but I am incredibly proud of the race we have run together - #TeamSaj! Thank you."
Intriguingly, there were two spoiled ballots.
MP Mark Francois, a supporter of Mr Johnson said: "He is almost certainly in the final. And the question is who is his opponent going to be? And it's very close.
"The other thing that every MP wants to know is who were the two numpties who spoilt their ballot papers?
"I can't believe anybody did that by accident."
A fifth ballot will now take place, with the result announced around 6pm.
The next few hours will see fevered attempts in the Gove and Hunt camps to get the supporters of Mr Javid on-side.
In a boost for Mr Gove, Scottish Tory leader and Mr Javid backer Ruth Davidson has announced she will be supporting him.
Another Javid supporter, Chris Skidmore, has confirmed he will now be backing Mr Johnson.
But sources close to Mr Javid himself have said he will not be endorsing any of the remaining candidates today.
On the prospect of Mr Gove taking on Mr Johnson in the last stage, a source in the Hunt campaign told Sky's deputy political editor Sam Coates: "Boris and Michael are great candidates, but we have seen their personal psychodrama before."
Mr Gove and Mr Johnson fought on the same side in the 2016 EU referendum, but the pair fell out when the former withdrew his support for the latter's bid to become prime minister in the wake of the Brexit vote.
Many in the party fear a Gove v Johnson contest would be a bitter battle that would damage the Tories.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, a supporter of Mr Johnson, rejected suggestions such a run-off would be marked by personal acrimony between the pair.
He told Sky News: "They now have a perfectly civil relationship. Boris is not a man who bears grudges."
Once the final two candidates have been picked, there will be a ballot of the party's roughly 160,000 members.
A winner in the contest will be declared next month, with the victor expected to take over from Theresa May in the week beginning 22 July.