Kemi Badenoch’s anti-woke crusade makes her the perfect Tory leader

“Unhindered by the English middle class’s peculiar inclination and tenderness for civility in the face of absurdities, it has raised the standard of common sense amid the smoke and confusion of a battle which most of us do not wish to wage, and the wish would disappear: but which probably need to be combated,” he said.

However, Sir Geoffrey also praised Mr Jenrick for transforming himself from an easy-going, talented moderate into a born-again man on a mission to tackle the migration crisis.

“Leaner and hungrier, driven by his experiences as Immigration Secretary, he has become an articulate, sometimes even eloquent, advocate of the need for draconian immigration controls,” said Sir Geoffrey. “Like Cassandra, his urgent warnings cannot be ignored.”

Voting for the Tory leadership closes on Thursday evening before the counting takes place on Friday and the winner will be declared on Saturday.

It is expected to be staged at the Queen Elizabeth Center in Westminster, with the two contenders taking to the stage after being told the result of Mr Bob Zwartmanchairman of the 1922 backbench committee, which oversaw the match.

Common sense Kemi is the best choice for the Tories

By Sir Geoffrey Cox

As many Conservatives will have done, I have struggled with the choice we were presented with for the leadership of the Conservative Party. It’s not easy. Both candidates have their merits. When you stand back and survey the shattered scene of the Conservative Party’s fortunes, the long and difficult road back to the government’s future, littered with traps for the unwary, leaves you worried about its future.

Meanwhile, the populist sharks, patrolling the icy seas in ever-shrinking circles, wait for the smell of blood in the water. Not since Shackleton’s famous journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia on the James Caird lifeboat, to bring relief to his stranded crew, has such an epic and improbable journey been undertaken, in political terms.

Who then should lead us? Where’s our Shackleton? Who will lead us through the ice flows and the heaving waves of the Atlantic Ocean to a refuge among the penguins on that island whose reconquest from Argentine military occupation so famously inspired Margaret Thatcher to joy? Who will rise to the challenge that history presents us at this moment?