The Tory rebel suspended for failing to support the government at this week’s confidence motion has been allowed to return to the fold temporarily to vote in the leadership contest.
Tobias Ellwood said he was “delighted” to be able to cast his ballot in the race to succeed Boris Johnson at No 10 on after the whips’ office relented.
“Delighted to report my request for a momentary return of the whip has been granted – just long enough for my proxy vote to be cast!” the Penny Mordaunt supporter tweeted.
There was confusion after Mr Ellwood then deleted the tweet, published shortly after 1.30pm on Wednesday afternoon.
But the whips’ office confirmed that the MP would be “temporarily unsuspended” so he could vote in the contest, before having the whip suspended again by the end of the afternoon.
A spokesperson said decision was made “to ensure that the whips’ office neutrality in the leadership contest can not be questioned”.
Mr Ellwood lost the party whip after he failed to support the government in a cruicial confidence vote on Monday, calling recent weeks a “sad chapter” in the history of the Conservatives.
The centrist – a key backer of Ms Mordaunt in the leadership race – declined to get into speculation about why the government moved so swiftly to penalise him.
Ms Mordant’s camp were furious at the move to suspend Mr Ellwood, with some of her backers suggesting it was done to help Liz Truss’s campaign for No 10.
Mr Ellwood, chairman of the defence select committee, had argued he was unable to travel back from a meeting with the president of Moldova for the confidence vote.
This had prompted suggestions, rejected outright by allies of the PM, that in taking the decision to suspend Mr Ellwood, Mr Johnson was working to boost Ms Truss’s chances.
With Rishi Sunak practically guaranteed a place in the run-off vote of Tory party members, it is only Ms Mordaunt standing between the foreign secretary and her place in the decisive stage of the contest.
Mr Ellwood told Sky News that recent weeks have been a “sad chapter” in the history of the Conservatives, warning that the party had “lost our way”.
On his Moldova trip, he said: “There are a few options to get back, but there were problems with travel in the UK. I am very sorry I didn’t make it back.”
He also said he did not want to speculate about the reasons why he specifically lost the whip, adding: “I’d be then fuelling the blue-on-blue (attacks), which I’m actually trying to avoid.”
A final vote of Tory MPs between 1pm and 3pm on Wednesday will select the two candidates to be put to the party’s membership in the race for No 10. Results are expected around 4pm
Ms Truss and Ms Mordaunt have been battling to win over Kemi Badenoch’s supporters after she was knocked out of the contest.
