An MP with a stately home in Herefordshire has emerged as the front-runner to lead the Conservative party.

Robert Jenrick, who served as housing secretary along with other ministerial posts in the last government, has received the most votes in the first round of the parliamentary party’s six-way leadership election.

Mr Jenrick gained the backing of 28 of his Tory party colleagues, followed by Kemi Badenoch, previously considered the favourite, with 22 votes, James Cleverly on 21, Tom Tugendhat on 17, Mel Stride on 16 and Dame Priti Patel, who now drops out of the race, on 14.

The contest is likely to dominate the party’s conference in Birmingham next month, with a winner not expected to be declared until early November.

Conservative MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire Jesse Norman has backed Ms Badenoch in the contest.

In 2009 the Wolverhampton-born Mr Jenrick bought Eye Manor in the hamlet of Eye north of Leominster for a reported £1.1 million.

The 17th-century, grade I-listed house is has a simple exterior but is noted for the quality of its interior decoration.

The MP for Newark also owns “a multimillion-pound townhouse” in London, according to a recent profile in the Daily Telegraph, for which he writes a weekly column.