WEST Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger believes only two candidates will make the cut for the Conservative Party leadership contest tomorrow (Monday) – and he has ‘grave concerns’ about them both.

Candidates will need at least 100 Conservative MPs to formally support their leadership bid in order to be included on the ballot paper tomorrow when a Parliamentary party vote is due to be held.

Mr Liddell-Grainger backed then-Foreign Minister Liz Truss during the summer leadership election after Boris Johnson resigned as Prime Minister.

Ms Truss beat former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, only to be forced by the country’s worsening economic circumstances to herself resign last week.

Mr Sunak and House of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt have formally declared themselves as leadership candidates, while Mr Johnson is expected to do so by tomorrow.

Mr Liddell-Grainger told the Free Press he did not expect Ms Mordaunt to gather the 100 MPs behind her whom she needed to be eligible to run.

He said he had spoken over the weekend with both ‘Team Rishi’ and ‘Team Boris’ but had not pledged his support to either.

Mr Liddell-Grainger said: “This is a momentous decision for our country. This is an incredibly serious position we are in for our country, and for the future of the UK.

“Our country is in trouble and we have to find the right person to lead it.

“Whomever is Prime Minister, it is then up to them to look at whether they want to carry on for another two years or have an election.

“There is potential for up to three candidates and at the moment I am torn because I have concerns about all three, because I have been around long enough to know what they are all like.”

Mr Liddell-Grainger said he had been taking soundings from constituents and would make up his mind before the scheduled vote by MPs tomorrow.

However, if two candidates were put out to a vote by Party members, then Mr Liddell-Grainger said anything he did in the Parliamentary ballot would be irrelevant.

Wiveliscombe area MP Rebecca Pow has declared her support for Rishi Sunak, whom she also backed in the summer contest.

Ms Pow said: “Unity, stability, certainty. This is what we need.

“And we need it now. It is time for sense. It is time for Sunak.”

Leadership nominations close at 2 pm tomorrow and the first round of MP voting will start at 3.30 pm after candidates have had an opportunity to speak to their colleagues at a series of short hustings.

The result of the first ballot will be announced at 6 pm by the backbenchers’ 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady, with a second round of voting starting at 6.30 pm if it is needed.

The final result will be declared by Sir Graham at 9 pm.

If there are still two candidates remaining, then an online ballot of paid-up Party members across the UK will be held during the week, with the new Prime Minister announced on Friday, October 28.