Hague: picking up speed

BBC correspondent Guto Hari looks at the candidate's struggle for support (3 mins 16 secs)

Call For Unity as Leadership Race Hots Up

The former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, no longer the front-runner as the second round of the leadership election approaches, has issued an appeal for party unity, whatever the result.

Mr Clarke was replaced as the bookies favourite on Tuesday as William Hague's bandwagon picked up speed. The two lowest scoring candidates, Michael Howard and Peter Lilley withdrew from the race yesterday and have given their support to Mr Hague, angering the arch Euro-sceptic John Redwood, who came in third.

Despite calls for him to step down and turn the leadership contest into a straight run-off between Clarke and Hague, Redwood has insisted he will fight to the end. He says he is already picking up some of Lilley and Howard's' supporters who, he claims, will find their natural home with him and not Mr Hague.

Nominations for the second round close at noon on Thursday.

Most of what was the Howard and Lilley camps have yet to make up their minds. The former Education Secretary Gillian Shephard, a Lilley supporter, said "So far as I am concerned, I haven't decided." The left-wing Mr Clarke looks likely to benefit the least from the departure of Howard and Lilley as most of their votes will be spread between Hague and Redwood. Both the former Prime Ministers, Baroness Thatcher and John Major, have declined to declare their support for anyone of the three runners.

Mr Clarke emerged as the front runner in the first round of voting by the 164 Conservative MPs. He received 49 votes, eight more than Mr Hague on 41. Defying predictions, John Redwood came third, scoring 27. Peter Lilley won 24 votes and Michael Howard came last with 23 votes. The second round is held on Tuesday, 17 June.

Mr Hague was clearly delighted by developments, although he was careful to underline that "We don't count any chickens before they are hatched."

Redwood: Hague supporters want him out of the race

Redwood tells BBC's Today programme that he's staying in the contest

Clarke: First Round Victory

Kenneth Clarke warns against "smoke-filled room politics"

Mr Clarke emphasised the verdict of the voluntary party, which in a poll on Monday suggested he was clearly the most popular candidate. "What the public wants to see is us coming together. What the voluntary party wants to see is our coming together behind the leader best able to project this party to the widest possible amount of public support in every part of the UK."