In the Northamptonshire town of Kettering this weekend, all the talk was of the long-awaited face-off between two rivals – one the clear favourite to triumph.
But before the FA Cup first round tie between Northampton Town and non-league Kettering got underway, one pub opened its doors early for local Tories to follow their own fixture.
At the Stirrup Cup bar and cafe, 30 or so members appeared fairly evenly split in how they voted in the final decisive round of their party’s leadership race.
After such a bruising general election, picking someone who could bring calm was a concern for many.
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Member and businessman Michael Walton told Sky News he chose Robert Jenrick at the last minute, despite thinking that Kemi Badenoch would “really rattle” Labour.
“In the end, I thought we need a period of stability, so I thought Robert would be the calmer of the two candidates,” he said.
Others took a different view of the path ahead, saying the Tories needed to move definitively to the right.
“The party is too centrist as we currently stand, we alienated core voters – which is why we lost the last election,” said one man.
Although even this Badenoch fan acknowledged her tendency to rub some up the wrong way, saying she could do with becoming more “rounded” as a politician.
There was some frustration as well that former Home Secretary James Cleverly didn’t make it onto the final ballot.
“I hope that Robert wins, I was also hoping that James would be his deputy as advertised, but James announcing last night that he was going to be a backbencher was a bit disappointing,” said local party chairman Mark Rowley.
Analysis:
Hamish Badenoch: A Denis Thatcher or Philip May?
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Speaking…
