‘Grubbiest campaign’: how Tory race was defined by smears and dirty tricks

As temperatures across the UK rose, so did the heat among candidates to become the next party leader

At first the candidates kept coming. A few hours after Boris Johnson resigned, Tom Tugendhat became the earliest contender to declare, promising, for the first of many times, a clean start". But the ensuing battle, in the soaring summer heat, was anything but.

Eleven people declared at first, including bafflingly Rehman Chishti, who had been a junior foreign office minister for less than a week. He pulled out because he had no supporters as nominations closed. The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, and former health secretary Sajid Javid also crashed out at the first hurdle, as neither could get 20 MPs to nominate them.