RORY Stewart admitted he had two advantages over his rivals for the Conservative crown.

“Firstly, I have nothing to lose. Secondly…I don’t really need to think about what I am saying before I answer the question because it’s simply what I think about it,” he told a hustings before 100 Westminster journalists in Commons Committee Room 14. Boris, incidentally, again did not turn up.

The Old Etonian Scot, who has, seemingly from nowhere, leapt into second place is disarming voters with his frankness and charm. But not necessarily Tory members.

Mr Stewart believes his opponents are “selling unicorns” by saying they can get a new deal with Brussels or they would allow a no-deal outcome. This was nonsense, he argued, because Britons lived in a parliamentary democracy and MPs could “unmake” the October 31 deadline.

His plan is to again try to push Theresa May’s deal through Parliament, calculating he would need another 45 votes to get it over the line. Failing that, he would set up a Citizens’ Assembly to thrash out the issues.

But he pointed out if he became PM, the parliamentary dynamic would change because the party membership would be behind his compromise plan; this would influence Tory MPs’ thinking.

Asked if he was confident he could get the 33 votes needed to get through the second ballot, Mr Stewart replied: “Dunno.”

The Borders MP said his campaign had been described as being like the comedy film The Producers.

He had set out to run the most disastrous leadership campaign imaginable, announcing he was taking no-deal off the table, refusing to make tax and spending pledges, “wombling around” safe Labour seats and even seeing Gary Lineker retweeting his tweets.

“My phone is full of people saying: ‘Rory, I really believe in you. I really want you to be Prime Minister…My daughter wants to vote for you. My children are clapping when you’re on television. But I’ve been PPS to Bumpty. So-and-so has been in the Cabinet longer than you.’”

Mr Stewart said people had to realise this was a two-horse race and the challenger had to be nimble and smart enough to “unsaddle” Mr Johnson.

Asked if he could trust other MPs, he replied: “In the voting lobbies? Nooo.”

In his 20-minute slot before the Fourth Estate, Sajid Javid again drew heavily on his ordinary background, stressing how, unlike his colleagues, he had not been to Oxford debating societies.

“I may not be the most confident speaker but what people want to see is someone who is genuine, honest, who has experience of life; real life at the rough end.”

He revealed as a young Asian he had gone into banking because it seemed more meritocratic; his parents, wary of prejudice, wanted him to get paper qualifications so employers had less chance to discriminate against him.

Interestingly, the Home Secretary acknowledged Mr Stewart was doing well but warned he was “spending too much time trying to appeal to Labour voters and not the Conservative membership”.

Jeremy Hunt, conscious of being labelled “Theresa May in trousers,” sought to insist he was a hard man really.

“The three golden rules in any negotiation are: you only do deals with someone you trust, you have to have someone who isn’t going to blink and you have to have someone who is prepared to walk away. I am the candidate who meets all those criteria.”

Promoting himself as a “Unionist to my core,” the Foreign Secretary’s urbane demeanour slipped only once when someone asked about John Bercow.

Mr Hunt said he “profoundly disagreed” with the way the Commons Speaker had used his office to “further a particular political agenda” but admitted he was a reforming Speaker.

Dominic Raab began his cross-examination by having a dig at his absent colleague, saying being quizzed by the Press was an “essential gauntlet” to run for any aspiring premier.

Describing himself as a stubborn optimist, the former Brexit Secretary brushed aside criticisms from the EU that he was not an effective negotiator, saying people in Brussels were briefing against him because he had stood up to them.

“They would say that, wouldn’t they? That’s why I am the candidate the British people can trust - whatever they say in Brussels - to get us out of the EU by the end of October.”

Michael Gove was up last and was the most ebullient, stressing his points by raising himself on his toes.

He brushed aside a question about his historical cocaine use, insisting he had dealt with those matters, as he concentrated on how he had “fire in my belly”.

The Environment Secretary insisted none of the candidates had done more in government to drive change and declared the candidate who “struck fear” into the heart of Jeremy Corbyn most was, not surprisingly, himself.