The new Tory leader will be Badenoch or Jenrick. Either would be a one-way ticket to another political planet | Martin Kettle

By rejecting James Cleverly, MPs spurned the chance to renew their party. Their chosen path is further right, a blow for all who want an effective opposition

So the final Tory run-off, whose result will be announced on 2 November, will be between Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick. The one who thinks there’s too much maternity pay and that 10% of civil servants should be in prison, versus the one who alleges that UK special forces are killing suspects rather than arresting them and who promises to withdraw from the European human rights system as a priority.

There are no two ways about reading the result of the fourth and final round of voting by the 121 surviving Conservative MPs at Westminster today. It marks a triumph for the Tory right and another existential crisis moment for a party that was battered into a record election defeat in July. With this vote, Tory MPs have bought their party a one-way ticket to another political planet.

Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist

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