Tory leadership race: One electrifying speech can turn a contest on its head - but are any of the contenders up to it?

26 September 2024, 14:42 | Updated: 27 September 2024, 05:19

The race to succeed Rishi Sunak as Tory leader could be won and lost in Birmingham over the next few days.

The "beauty contest" involving the remaining candidates at the party conference has the potential to transform one of the not-so-famous four from also-ran to front-runner.

Robert Jenrick, ahead among Conservative MPs, has the early momentum and is a slick performer. But could one of his rivals - Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly or Tom Tugendhat - dramatically upset the odds?

It has happened before, spectacularly, when outsider David Cameron made the speech of his life at a leadership "beauty contest" in 2005 and overtook the early favourite, David Davis, to snatch victory and seize the Tory crown.

Looking ahead to Birmingham, one conference veteran has told Sky News it'll be "shine - or crash!" and is almost salivating at the prospect of the foursome facing Tory activists under the glare of live TV cameras and the scrutiny of party grandees and power brokers.

No pressure, then, on the one lady and trio of gentlemen on parade. This is crunch time in the leadership battle: a penalty shoot-out in a long - critics claim too long - and bruising campaign.

Or to use another footballing analogy, as Sir Alex Ferguson used to say to describe buttock-clenching tension, it's "squeaky bum time".