(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Tory leadership candidates have insisted that there must be no unchallenged 'coronation for frontrunner Boris Johnson at the latest round of hustings.
Senior cabinet ministers were reported to have hatched plans to force other candidates to withdraw from the race after Johnson comfortably topped the poll in the first ballot of MPs this week.
Among the rivals condemning the revelation were the home secretary,
Sajid Javid, and Rory Stewart, who both insisted that there must be a proper contest.
As he arrived at leadership hustings for the party grassroots organised by the National Conservative Convention yesterday, Javid said senior figures should learn from the mistakes of the last leadership contest in which Theresa May went through without opposition after Andrea Leadsom dropped out.
'The party and the country deserve a good choice, he told reporters outside the event. 'I don't want to see a coronation. There needs to be a proper process that's followed through.
'We had a coronation the last time. That didn't work out well so let's not make the same mistake again.
Stewart, the international development secretary, said: 'The members of the Conservative party, who are wise, sensible, experienced people, deserve to have a choice.
'We should have learned from the last time round that coronations are not the way to do democratic politics, he added.
Johnson, who has been criticised by his fellow candidates for his reluctance to appear on television debates and submit to greater public scrutiny, avoided reporters after parking his Range Rover at a side door at a London hotel where the event was being held.
Stewart, something of an outsider in the contest and among the keenest critics of Johnson, accused the frontrunner of adopting a presidential approach.
'The whole genius of British politics is that we don't behave like American presidents sweeping up in a motorcade. We're all about talking to people, he said.
Today Channel 4 will represent the former foreign secretary and London mayor with an empty podium after he declined an invitation to participate in a television debate with his five remaining rivals.
Johnson has claimed that direct bickering between them will be counter-productive.
He will take part in a BBC debate on Tuesday.
Earlier, the former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab lashed out at Johnson, claiming that party members would reject a leader who could be viewed as part of the 'privileged elite and questioning his 'mettle to be prime minister.
Asked how he would stop Johnson from winning as he left the hustings, Raab said: 'We should have proper scrutiny of everyone. The longer this goes on, the more the underdog gets their shot.
Conservative MPs whittle the contenders down to two through successive rounds of voting before the 160,000 grassroots party members pick the winner in a postal ballot.
Speaking at the National Conservative Convention hustings meeting, Johnson said he wanted to revitalise the party.
'What we need to do is to speak with confidence again about our basic Conservative message, the former foreign secretary said, according to his campaign office. 'The basic idea that it is wealth creation, it is free market economics that is at the heart of delivering the revenues that we need to pay for civilised objectives.
He said he was the candidate that could win back voters who have drifted to the Brexit Party and the centrist Liberal Democrats, then beat the main opposition Labour Party.
He branded Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn a 'high taxing, high spending, Hugo Chavez-admiring, anti-Semitism-condoning apologist for the Kremlin.
Johnson topped Thursday's first round with 114 votes, way ahead of Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on 43 votes and Environment Secretary Michael Gove on 37.
Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab got 27, interior minister Sajid Javid got 23 and International Development Secretary Rory Stewart was on 19.
There are 50 votes to play for that went to candidates who have dropped out and contenders need 33 votes to get through Tuesday's second round, when at least one more candidate will be eliminated.
The winner of the members' vote will be announced in the week beginning July 22 and then take over from Theresa May as prime minister.
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