The race is on-
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...ader-live-news
Boris in a clear lead as the others will have to 'build up' to meet him. What is certain is that Boris will be one of the final two as he is passed the 105 line needed to assure that (and thus likely to win if it goes to the membership).
Rory Stuart surprised some by making it through this first round. Gove didn't do as well as hoped. Hunt is currently second.
Eliminated- Harper, Mcvey (apparently even the rather...weird...step of sticking a picture of Maraget Thatcher to your podium does not work) and Leadsom.
What is showing though is this will not restore Tory unity, combined with Hammonds comments about 'bringing down' his own government to prevent 'no-deal', Grieves yesterday for the first time publicly announced he would indeed vote to bring down his own government too if the same line is following. Currently it would only take three Conservatives, based on yesterday's vote there are 11 Conservatives who may be prepared to VoNC any new leader they have to force a GE. There are also rumours that Boris may actually call a GE himself regardless (Either because he feels the parliamentary arithmetic is just not workable, and it really isn't, but also because it would see the Tories lose, and thus prevent brexit from ripping apart the party, and he needs the time to 'reform' the party in his image to be coherent at a future jab at governance in 5 years). A key question mark is Farage's Brexit party. It has been mooted that Farage might step his party down if someone like Boris was elected at any GE, to prevent Labour storming ahead (thanks to FPTP), however this is not from Farage at all and would be a big gamble, as even with Boris, the Brexit Party has the potential to get 'a' parliamentary presence (FPTP makes the extent of this presence essentially unpredictable, as even with their current high vote share, it will not necessarily translate to 'secure' seats).
EDIT: Now we have Rory Stuart threatening also to split the Tories in the face of the 'winner' (if it isn't him) attempting to take radical measures to delivery brexit:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...box=1560439027
So, yep. Its rather looking that essentially whoever is Tory leader, does not matter now really, as its increasingly likely their rivals will seek to bring down the entire government, and GE territory at the moment is not a confident or happy prospect for the Tories under any new leader.