On Twitter, the Secretary of State for DCMS wrote: “These are dirty tricks/a sewing job/dark arts. Choose. Team Rishi wants the candidate they know they can definitely beat the last two and that is @Jeremy_Hunt. It was in response to a tweet from commentator Dan Hodges, who revealed he had been told that Gavin Williamson, who is on Rishi Sunak’s team, was organizing a “single-vote transfer” to help Jeremy Hunt run for election.
He wrote, “A rival camp tells me that Gavin Willamson (who is on Team Rishi) has siphoned some votes to allow Jeremy Hunt to cross the threshold.”
Nadine Dorries is a member of the Conservative Party and has been Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport since 2021.
It comes as the first eight leadership candidates through to the first round of voting have been revealed.
Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat and Nadhikm Zahawi made it through.
Sajid Javid and Rehman Christi withdrew from the content minutes before the deadline.