ANDOVER’S MP has said he will not be declaring who he is backing in the Conservative leadership election because he wants to listen to all of the debate ahead of making his choice. 

Kit Malthouse, MP for North West Hampshire, said: “I have not declared, because I have an old-fashioned view that I should listen to the statements that are made, and then decide how to vote.”

He continued: “I think all the candidates are great, it’s a great courageous thing to do, to put yourself forward, so I take my hat off to all of them.”

SEE ALSO: ‘A difficulty, not an emergency’: Kit Malthouse MP urges people to ‘be good neighbours’ during period of extreme heat

Contenders for the Tory leadership were whittled down to just four on Monday, July 18 as MPs cast their votes in the third round of the contest to find a successor to Boris Johnson.

The remaining candidates were involved in a series of exchanges in the latest TV debate – staged by ITV – on Sunday evening as the battle for a place in the run-off ballot of party members became ever more bitter.

Sky News then cancelled its scheduled Tory leadership debate after Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss declined to take part.

The broadcaster cancelled Tuesday evening’s event with a day’s notice after sources in Mr Sunak’s camp suggested he will only do further TV confrontations if he succeeds in making it to the final two candidates.

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