Philip Webster, Political Editor of The Times, said the result of today's first ballot in the Tory leadership race was a major boost for the Cameron campaign

"This is the end of Ken Clarke's leadership hopes, and really the end of his political career. It was a surprise when he went for the leadership and today's result reflects the fact that he didn't put enough work in during the early stages of the campaign.

"He should probably have taken a frontbench job when Michael Howard became leader last year, getting himself noticed and proving that he was genuinely committed to the cause. In reality, for him to pick up 38 votes isn't that bad at all.

"The real winners here though are David Cameron and Liam Fox.

"Cameron did exceedingly well and is likely to pick up around two-thirds of the Clarke votes in the ballot on Thursday. With 56, he is already uncomfortably close to David Davis and even the most loyal Davis supporters accept that he will be the main beneficiary from Clarke's elimination.

"If he beats David Davis or Liam Fox into second place in the final MPs' vote he would be a shoo-in for the leadership when the members make the final decision. All the signs are that he is, at the moment, more popular among the party members and this would give him an even stronger mandate.

"Even though David Davis won, this is still a disappointing result. He didn't reach his magical figure of 67 although there are rumours that some of his supporters voted tactically, defecting to Liam Fox in order to push Ken out, and that they will return to him in the next round.

"It was a very good result for Liam Fox and he will be hoping that the Davis vote now collapses and he picks up the majority of his supporters.

"It was very exciting, very tense. As the result was being announced it was one of those rare moments in Parliament where nobody moved, and even the MPs were silent."

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