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Nov 28 2024

Dame Andrea Jenkyns: Former Tory minister joins Reform UK | Politics News

Former Tory minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns has joined Reform UK, Nigel Farage has announced.

Ms Jenkyns, who served under the administration of Liz Truss, has been selected to stand as the party’s candidate for the newly created post of Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire.

The announcement was made during a Reform press conference in which Mr Farage revealed that the party’s membership had increased to 100,000 people.

Dame Andrea was elected to parliament in 2015, famously defeating the sitting shadow chancellor Ed Balls to take his seat of Morley and Outwood.

She served as an education minister in the period after Boris Johnson resigned as the leadership contest was under way, and left government after the demise of the Truss government.

She lost her seat at the general election in July – despite famously having a photo of her with Mr Farage on her election leaflets.

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Oct 29 2024

Whole Tory cabinet knew Rwanda Bill wouldn’t work, Robert Jenrick claims | Politics News

‘Everyone in cabinet’ knew the Rwanda deportation bill would not work, according to Conservative leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick.

Speaking to the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, the former Home Office minister implied that every senior government minister in the last administration didn’t think the plans to send asylum seekers to Kigali would work.

Mr Jenrick resigned from Rishi Sunak’s government at the end of 2023, saying he did not believe the plans went far enough.

Politics latest: Countdown to budget nears finale

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Jenrick explained why he left government: “There was a choice for me at the time: take a bill through parliament which I knew didn’t work and which, frankly, everyone in cabinet knew didn’t work; or leave the government and make the case in parliament, where I was honest with myself and with the public.”

Asked to confirm if he thought everyone in the cabinet – which includes the prime minister, home secretary and all senior ministers – thought the Rwanda Bill would not work, he said: “I think everybody involved in that decision knew perfectly well that that policy was not going to succeed, but they turned a blind eye to it.

“I wasn’t willing to be a minister like that.”

Mr Jenrick would not give specific names of who in cabinet – aside from himself – did not think the plans would work.

He has said he wants a legally enforced cap on migration, and also to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.

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Mickey Mouse mural

Sophy Ridge also asked Mr Jenrick about one of the most controversial moments of his time in the Home Office – when he ordered a mural of Mickey Mouse at a reception centre for young asylum seekers be painted over.

During the leadership race he has said he would not do the same thing again – but he has so far refused to apologise.

“I would never want to do anything that was anything other than compassionate towards children,” he said.

“When I was a minister responsible for immigration, I did a lot to try and ensure that we were looking after unaccompanied children properly.

“When I came into office, we were housing them in rudimentary hotels in seaside towns. [We] closed them down and got those young people into foster care and more appropriate accommodation.”

Mr Jenrick says he was concerned about “a large number of adults” entering the UK and posing as children – “placing actual children” in “real danger”.

Jobs for the old rivals

Another topic touched on in the in interview was whether Mr Jenrick would give other MPs who wanted to be leader a job in his shadow cabinet, should he win.

“I want to get the best players on to the pitch,” Mr Jenrick said.

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He added that the other member of the final two, Kemi Badenoch, “should get a senior position in which she can play a full part in restoring and renewing the Conservative Party”.

And James Cleverly, who came third, would be welcome to serve as Mr Jenrick’s deputy if he wishes, as he’s “a unifying presence”.

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Oct 11 2024

Tory peer predicts another leadership race in two years – as frontrunners show they ‘make mistakes’ | Politics News

Conservative peer Ruth Davidson has said she thinks there is a “good chance” there will be another Tory leadership election in two years – despite the fact one is currently under way.

Baroness Davidson told Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast that the recent Conservative Party conference showed that both Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick, who have made the final two, can “make mistakes”.

The former leader of the Scottish Tories also revealed she voted for James Cleverly, the former home secretary and foreign secretary who was knocked out of the race on Wednesday amid accusations of vote lending.

Baroness Davidson said she thought it was likely that Mr Cleverly would receive a job in the shadow cabinet.

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“I think almost because it’s such a small parliamentary group, they will all have to have jobs,” she told the podcast.

“You don’t get to sort of take a back seat. And he will work with whoever. But I guess he’s already worked with four prime ministers.”

There was shock and surprise on Wednesday night when Mr Cleverly, who catapulted to the top of the scoreboard after he impressed at conference, was knocked out of the race after receiving 37 votes.

Ms Badenoch and Mr Jenrick, both from the right of the party, won 42 and 41 votes, respectively.

Some senior Tory MPs believe that some of Mr Cleverly’s backers “went rogue” and voted for Mr Jenrick in a botched attempt to knock Ms Badenoch out of the race.

It’s also claimed that a group of at least five MPs voted for Mr Cleverly 24 hours earlier to boost his vote in the third round to make the figures look as if he was heading for victory, while fully intending to switch to Ms Badenoch in the final round.

Baroness Davidson highlighted missteps by Ms Badenoch and Mr Jenrick.

During conference, Mr Jenrick claimed the SAS was being forced to kill rather than capture terrorists because the “European Court will set them free”, something many of his colleagues disputed.

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Former business secretary Ms Badenoch was forced to backtrack over comments she made about “excessive” maternity pay and civil servants being jailed.

Baroness Davidson said both candidates had shown a “misunderstanding of what growing from opposition is – it’s about persuading people, it’s about telling them that they can trust you, that you can deliver for them.

“It’s a lot of round tables. It’s a lot of listening. It’s a lot of bringing people onside. It’s a lot of being humble and asking for people to help you.

“Neither of them, I think, are suited to that in terms of their personality types. And I think that’s a problem.”

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Oct 8 2024

Tom Tugendhat knocked out of Tory leadership race – as James Cleverly tops latest vote | Politics News

Tom Tugendhat has been knocked out of the Tory leadership race after receiving the least votes from MPs.

It narrows the field down to three, with James Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch, and Robert Jenrick still in the running to replace Rishi Sunak.

Follow reaction to the Tory leadership race

Mr Cleverly overtook Mr Jenrick to come out on top with 39 of his colleagues backing him in today’s vote.

Mr Jenrick followed with 31 votes, then 30 for Ms Badenoch, and 20 for Mr Tugendhat.

A further vote by MPs on Wednesday will reduce the field to a final two, who will then go to a ballot of Tory members next month.

Mr Tugendhat thanked those who backed him in a post on X, adding: “Your energy, your ideas and your support have shown a vision of what our party could become.

“Our campaign has ended but our commitment to our country continues.”

Mr Tugendhat served as security minister under Mr Sunak’s premiership and before becoming an MP was a member of the armed forces – a fact he has honed in on to pitch himself as the candidate of public service.

Seen as being from the moderate, centrist wing of the party, he was equal third with former home secretary Mr Cleverly in the last round of voting, when Mel Stride was knocked out.

Mr Cleverly saw a surge in support after the Conservative Party conference last week, when he gave a well-received speech urging party members to be “more normal” and “sell Conservatism with a smile”.

In a post on social media after the vote, he said he was “grateful” to his colleagues who backed him and “pleased to be through to the next round”.

He added: “The job’s not finished. I’m excited to keep spreading our positive Conservative message.”

Mr Cleverly is likely to make the final round as the “One Nation” wing’s candidate, while Mr Jenrick and Ms Badenoch are seen as battling for the support of the right of the party.

They were previously considered to be the frontrunners, coming in first and second place respectively in the earlier two rounds of voting.

They both faced criticism for comments they made during the party conference – Mr Jenrick for claiming the SAS is being forced to kill rather than capture terrorists because the “European Court will set them free”, something many of his colleagues disputed.

Meanwhile, former business secretary Ms Badenoch was forced to backtrack over comments she made about “excessive” maternity pay and civil servants being jailed.

A spokesperson for her campaign said the party’s right-wing “needs to coalesce around Kemi” given the fall in Mr Jenrick’s support, adding she “can reach across and unify the party, has the star quality to cut through in opposition, and is indisputably the members’ choice for leader”.

Mr Jenrick’s campaign said the former immigration minister, who wants to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, was “in prime position to make the final two”.

A source said: “MPs want seriousness and competence. That’s why he’s won support from across the party so far – from Danny Kruger on the right to Vicky Atkins on the left.”

Polling suggests the Conservative membership favours Ms Badenoch over Mr Jenrick and Mr Cleverly, but that the gap has narrowed since the party conference.

Whoever wins on 2 November, when the final result is declared, they face the task of rebuilding the party after their worst-ever general election defeat put them in opposition for the first time in 14 years.

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Sep 29 2024

Tory leadership contest shows striking lack of focus on issues that cost party the election | Politics News

Four contenders and the biggest platform of the year to make their case to be leader of the opposition.

Welcome to the Conservatives’ annual conference in Birmingham – a four day job interview in the glare of the spotlight, with the axe falling on two of the four candidates in just 10 days when MPs vote to narrow them down again.

It is a conference like no other. Rishi Sunak is leader in name only and certainly not providing direction: this is the first Tory conference without a leader’s speech since 1963 – when Harold Macmillan was in hospital with suspected prostate cancer.

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Yet it does not feel like a gathering of a party that just suffered an existential election defeat less than 100 days ago. This conference – with multiple overflow tents covering as big a footprint around the Birmingham conference centre than I can remember – shows none of the shrinkage often seen in some opposition conferences.

There’s a similar perhaps delusionally bullish vibe among MPs and defeated candidates, who are lapping up the short term tempest faced by Sir Keir Starmer’s government and display a belief the gap back to power may not be as big as they feared mere weeks ago.

Even the Conservative candidates suggest they think “one more heave” will be enough to return them to Downing Street rather than a massive radical top to bottom rethink, offering more continuity than change in the opening pitches of the conference this morning.

It will soon be for MPs, and eventually the membership to decide whether this is the right approach.

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One of the biggest challenges this week will be working out the substantive differences between the four candidates, who feel like they are trying to contain their difference to limited and specific areas like membership of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Getting the candidates’ responses on events unfolding in the Middle East on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips was particularly instructive.

Asked by Trevor Phillips what they would be telling leaders in the Middle East if they were PM, Tom Tugendhat sidestepped talking about Israel, and instead directed his criticism at Iran, saying this was “no time for escalation”.

James Cleverly took a middle course, defending Israel’s right to defend itself but proffering that Israel has “to abide by international law”.

Robert Jenrick said he was not “uncritical” of Israel but said it had been acting “reasonably” and taking the “necessary steps” to avoid casualties.

But the stand out answer – designed to grab attention – was that of Kemi Badenoch.

Following the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, which however justified worries other Tories it could push the region to the brink of war, Badenoch said if she was PM “I would be congratulating Prime Minister Netanyahu. I think what they did was extraordinary”.

“Israel is showing that it has moral clarity in dealing with its enemies and the enemies of the West as well,” she said. “Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation, and I think that being able to remove the leader of Hezbollah, as they did, will create more peace in the Middle East.”

Grabbing attention. Giving crisp, stand out answers. Embracing provocation. Both on the most sensitive issue of the moment, but throughout her appearance this morning.

To distinguish from the men, she believes she can turn heads with an explosive remark, but then display the ability to deliver a more nuanced answer when pushed.

Take another seemingly abrasive remark: that she was struck by the number of recent immigrants in the UK who hate Israel. Phillips pushed whether she was in fact criticising Muslim immigration – a charge she denied citing her travels in Saudi Arabia. She wants to be seen going harder on topics others might be squeamish about.

“I will not stand there and let people punch me. If you swing at me, I will swing back. But I don’t look for fights,” she declared.

This is all a hard headed strategy designed to ensure she stays in the final two, gambling that she can be more memorable an opposition leader than the three men she is against. The question is whether this appeals, or reinforces the critics among MPs.

Rather than cutting rhetoric, Robert Jenrick is looking to consolidate his position as frontrunner among MPs by staking out positions on the right of the party.

He is the candidate, he suggests, who can stem the loss of support to Reform UK with his migration cap and insistence on the need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.

His team are celebrating Badenoch’s nuancing of her line, having previously said she would not support withdrawal to now failing to rule it out.

But after an energetic start to the campaign, the question for Jenrick is whether having journeyed across the Conservative ideological spectrum, he is a big enough figure to command respect.

Sky’s questions about the ultimate source of funding for a sports company with no employees that gave him a donation of £75,000 will not have delighted his team, and his reluctance to name names of who was behind the firm was notable and could come back to haunt him.

For Tugendhat, the challenge is convincing people of his credentials in domestic policy. He gives a convincing account of his overseas leadership, but pivots answers about domestic challenges back to his record.

Meanwhile, Cleverly has the opportunity to overtake Badenoch if, as he hopes, he can charm the conference in Birmingham.

But he needs to surprise and show he has the energy to succeed. Cautious answers about global challenges to Trevor Phillips ensured no blunders but he needs an exceptional week to turn this contest around. Calling for unity alone might not do it.

The most striking thing about this contest to date is the lack of focus on issues that polls suggest cost the Tories the election – the economy, schools and the NHS.

Candidates are preferring to recreate the infighting of the government years in this contest – nothing yet that feels like a true clean break. Will that still be the case at the end of the week.

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Sep 29 2024

Tory leadership hopefuls head to conference that could define course of UK history | Politics News

And they’re off! The banners are up, and the stage is set for a Conservative Party conference that could define the course of British history.

Will the next Tory leader rebuild the party from a historic low? Could we be witnessing the coronation of the next Conservative prime minister?

The excitement surely must be palpable?

“God, no,” a former Tory MP, who lost their seat in July, tells me when I ask if they will be attending. “I’ve got better things to do now than watch that lot”.

The mood among many Conservatives I’ve spoken to, and notably business people (who for the most part are not going), is lacklustre.

One former Tory minister tells me they feel “obliged” to go “to make the case for sensible conservatism” and “bring the party back from the brink”.

Others are more upbeat: “I’m an optimist,” one Tory MP tells me. “We can already see Labour making mistakes and I’m optimistic we will find a leader who can win the next election.”

What’s clear is that all four candidates are taking Wednesday’s stump speeches very seriously.

Kemi Badenoch was the one-time favourite with the bookies but is now trailing behind Robert Jenrick. Her team tell me “nothing is for granted”.

Her allies say she is a more natural speaker and her style will be more authentic and “less rehearsed”.

I’m told Tom Tugendhat has been testing sections of his speech on his young children, who have not quite shown the level of interest he hopes to ignite in the conference hall.

Mr Tugendhat has been practising “on trains, in cars, before events and late at night”, while Mr Jenrick has been hauled up in a secret country hideout rehearsing his lines with a small number of aides.

Team Jenrick say they have been up past midnight all week, surviving on takeaways.

“He must be sick of me by now,” one aide tells me. His team are keen to stress that they want the conference to be more than just a “vibes contest”.

The prospect of a “David Cameron moment” is being talked up, when the former prime minister surprised the 2005 conference with his casual, youthful, no-notes speech which saw him race ahead of frontrunner David Davis.

The former home secretary James Cleverly has already hosted a “Bevs with Clevs” evening for his backers here. His team say he is “in his element” and conference is a “home fixture”.

Mr Jenrick may be the favourite, but this contest is still open and there is a path for any of the four candidates to become the final two.

We saw the difference a few votes can make when Liz Truss narrowly beat Penny Mordaunt in the final MPs ballot in 2022, or the one vote between Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Portillo in 2001 that knocked the frontrunner out of the race.

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With just 121 Conservatives left to play with: nothing is for sure yet.

What is also clear is that not everyone is happy with how the race has played out behind the scenes.

There are plenty of, now well documented, accusations of “dubious” hostile briefings between rival camps. As one insider tells me: “There is always a bit of spice around the edges.”

Whatever the dynamics behind the scenes, what happens in Birmingham will decide the direction the Conservative Party takes, and will therefore inevitably have a profound impact on British politics.

All four Conservative leadership hopefuls: Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat and Robert Jenrick will be on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News from 8.30am this morning.

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Sep 27 2024

Tory leadership race: One electrifying speech can turn a contest on its head – but are any of the contenders up to it? | Politics News

The race to succeed Rishi Sunak as Tory leader could be won and lost in Birmingham over the next few days.

The “beauty contest” involving the remaining candidates at the party conference has the potential to transform one of the not-so-famous four from also-ran to front-runner.

Robert Jenrick, ahead among Conservative MPs, has the early momentum and is a slick performer. But could one of his rivals – Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly or Tom Tugendhat – dramatically upset the odds?

It has happened before, spectacularly, when outsider David Cameron made the speech of his life at a leadership “beauty contest” in 2005 and overtook the early favourite, David Davis, to snatch victory and seize the Tory crown.

Looking ahead to Birmingham, one conference veteran has told Sky News it’ll be “shine – or crash!” and is almost salivating at the prospect of the foursome facing Tory activists under the glare of live TV cameras and the scrutiny of party grandees and power brokers.

No pressure, then, on the one lady and trio of gentlemen on parade. This is crunch time in the leadership battle: a penalty shoot-out in a long – critics claim too long – and bruising campaign.

Or to use another footballing analogy, as Sir Alex Ferguson used to say to describe buttock-clenching tension, it’s “squeaky bum time”.

In 2005, the now Lord Cameron shone with a brilliantly delivered, upbeat speech: no notes, no lectern and a relaxed, casual stroll around the stage of Blackpool’s iconic Winter Gardens. The ovation was long and loud.

Mr Davis didn’t crash, to be fair. But in comparison, his speech, though respectable, was workmanlike. The two contrasting speeches were a turning point in the leadership campaign.

This time, the contest begins with a “fireside chat” and members’ questions for an hour with each candidate. On Monday, it’s Mr Tugendhat and Ms Badenoch, and on Tuesday, Mr Jenrick and Mr Cleverly.

Then Wednesday is the big day, with four “stump speeches” of 20 minutes each. This time the order is expected to be Mr Tugendhat, Mr Cleverly, Mr Jenrick and Ms Badenoch.

Recalling the 2005 conference in his memoirs, Lord Cameron wrote: “The week in Blackpool was undoubtedly one of the most exciting of my life.

“The acoustics were good, the hall was packed and the audience was close to the stage. The atmosphere and the potential were tangible.”

Surprisingly, given the reception his speech received, Lord Cameron believed it wasn’t as good as the one he made at his campaign launch a few days earlier.

“But many more people saw it,” he acknowledged, “as it was carried live on television and reprised on the evening news.”

Indeed it was.

I vividly remember reporting on the speech for Sky News and describing it as “electrifying” – a verdict Mr Cameron’s team gleefully reported in their leadership campaign newsletter the following morning.

The speech was what we later grew accustomed to. Classic Cameron, full of hope and optimism, all sunny and cheerful. It included these lines:

“I joined this party because I love my country…

“I joined this party because I believe in freedom…

“I joined this party because I believe in aspiration…

“I want people to feel good about being a Conservative again.”

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And in words that could have been spoken by Sir Keir Starmer about changing the Labour Party, he added: “We have to change… we’ve got to change our culture so we look, feel, think and behave like a completely new organisation.”

Reflecting on the speech in his memoirs, Lord Cameron wrote: “What impressed many people was that I delivered it without notes, having memorised it as we drafted it. Watching it now, I find it rather wooden, but it worked.”

It certainly did. “Within a single day,” Lord Cameron wrote, “the polls were transformed: support for me surged from 16% to 39%, while for Davis it collapsed from 30% to 14%”.

It was a stunning turnaround. Could something like that happen this year in Birmingham?

In 2005, although leadership candidates Kenneth Clarke, Liam Fox and Malcolm Rifkind were also on parade in the Winter Gardens, the contest was seen as a two-horse race, with Mr Davis – still in the Commons to this day aged 75 – out in front.

But Mr Davis wasn’t all that was out in front. Mr Cameron’s reputation as the moderniser in the race was helped by his rival parading young women supporters in tight-fitting T-shirts proclaiming “It’s DD for me”.

Headline writers called it “a storm in a DD-cup”. And nearly 20 years on, we’re unlikely to see a repeat of that sort of campaigning.

But will one of the four leadership candidates repeat Lord Cameron’s Tory conference triumph of 2005 that propelled him to the leadership?

It’s entirely possible. Don’t bet against it. But which candidate will it be?

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Sep 1 2024

Tory leadership: We won’t win back trust ‘by pointing out how terrible Labour are’, says Badenoch | Politics News

The Tories will not win back trust of the British people by simply “pointing out how terrible Labour are”, Kemi Badenoch will say.

Speaking at the launch of her Conservative leadership campaign on Monday, the former Business Secretary will attack the new government as failing to offer “something better”.

But despite reeling off a list of criticisms, including “trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the British public about the state of the UK finances”, she will go on to say that this won’t help her party win the next election.

“If the Conservatives want to become worthy of the British people’s trust again, we can’t just sit around pointing out how terrible Labour are… fun as it is,” Ms Badenoch will say.

“We can’t just keep having the same policy arguments from the last parliament. We lost. We are not in power.

“Labour will fail; and when that time comes, and the British people are looking for change, we have to be that change.

“We have to focus on renewal. The renewal of our party, our politics, and our thinking.”

The Tories suffered their worst ever general election defeat in July, ushering a Labour government into power for the first time in 14 years.

Conservatives are split about what direction the party should go in, with some calling for a return to the centre ground and others favouring a shift to the right to combat the threat of Reform UK.

Ms Badenoch, seen as favourite on the right, is up against five others in the race to replace Rishi Sunak: Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly, Dame Priti Patel, Tom Tughendhat and Mel Stride.

Mr Cleverly will also give a speech on Monday, when parliament returns from the summer recess, in which he will say his party must “think and act like Conservatives again” and argue for a smaller state.

He will say the Tories “must get our act together” to present solutions to “an unstable world, global migration and a crisis of confidence in capitalism”.

“That means being honest and realistic about the role of the state. About what it should and can do, and what it should not and cannot. The state should focus on doing fewer things very well, not everything badly,” he will add.

“We accept that the state has a primary duty to protect its people and its borders. But Conservatives must be honest about the trade-offs in doing these things properly.”

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Mr Cleverly will also argue for a “family-first society” rather than looking to the state as the first port of call when a problem arises.

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The candidates are seeking support from fellow MPs ahead of the first round of voting on Wednesday, after which the field of contestants will be reduced to four.

The build-up to the ballot has already seen major speeches by Mr Tugendhat, Ms Patel and Mr Jenrick in recent days.

A husting will be held during the party conference at the end of the month, when MPs will vote again to narrow the field to two candidates.

The party’s wider membership will then vote with the winner announced on 2 November.

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Jul 28 2024

Suella Braverman will not run in Tory leadership race | UK News

Suella Braverman will not run to be the next leader of the Conservative Party – saying she’s been branded “mad, bad and dangerous”.

The former home secretary had been expected to throw her hat in the ring but said she had chosen not to despite having the backing she needed before the 2.30pm deadline on Monday.

“Although I’m grateful to the 10 MPs who wanted to nominate me for the leadership, getting on to the ballot is not enough,” she wrote in an article for The Telegraph.

“There is, for good or for ill, no point in someone like me running to lead the Tory Party when most of the MPs disagree with my diagnosis and prescription” of what went wrong and how to fix it.

Ms Braverman said the party’s disastrous election result was down to failures on migration, taxes and “transgender ideology”.

“I’ve been branded mad, bad and dangerous enough to see that the Tory Party does not want to hear this. And so I will bow out here,” she added.

It came as shadow housing secretary Kemi Badenoch became the sixth person to enter the leadership race with a pledge to tell voters the truth.

She joins James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat, Robert Jenrick and Mel Stride, who declared last week, and Priti Patel, who launched her bid at the weekend, in the race.

Earlier this month, Ms Braverman spoke at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington DC where she blamed “liberal Conservatives” for the party’s general election defeat.

She has also warned that the Tories must not become “a collection of fanatical, irrelevant, centrist cranks”.

While hosting an LBC Radio phone-in programme last week, Ms Braverman said she would vote for Donald Trump if she was a US citizen because “the world will be safer” with him as president.

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Jul 27 2024

Priti Patel enters Tory leadership race saying ‘time to put unity before personal vendetta’ | Politics News

Former home secretary Dame Priti Patel has said it is “time to put unity before personal vendetta” as she threw her hat into the ring for the Tory party leadership.

Entering the increasingly crowded field to replace Rishi Sunak, the senior Conservative MP laid the blame for their worst-ever defeat on 4 July not on the “heroic” party members, but the politicians who “fell out and left us short”.

Dame Priti is the fifth candidate but the first woman to formally announce she is joining the race for the top job, with Mel Stride, Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick already having declared.

Announcing her decision on X, Dame Priti wrote: “I am standing to be the new Leader of the Conservative Party.

“I can lead us in opposition and unite our party and get us match fit for the next election, with unity, experience and strength.”

After the turmoil and bitter in-fighting which dogged the Tories in government, she stressed she had the experience and resilience to unite the party and get it “match fit”.

While arguing the Conservatives should reflect on what went wrong at the polls that saw it reduced to just 121 MPs at Westminster, Dame Priti argued the party cannot let “a soap opera of finger pointing and self-indulgence” distract from the goal of winning the next election.

She insisted “authentic” conservative values such defending freedom, promoting enterprise, keeping people safe and spreading opportunity remained popular with the public.

And it was “competent, grown-up and experienced politicians” who put these into practice that would help the Conservatives regain power.

Seeking to distinguish herself from her rivals, Dame Priti said members would be rewarded for their loyalty under her leadership with a greater voice in policy and the direction of the party, including helping to elect the Tory chairman, who is currently appointed by the leader.

Dame Priti said: “It isn’t our heroic members who failed, but politicians’ distraction from public service.

“We must now turn our conservative values into strong policies to bring about positive change for people across our country.

“It is time to put unity before personal vendetta, country before party, and delivery before self-interest.

“I have done this throughout my 30-plus years of service to our Party, in both government and opposition. I can get us match fit to win the next general election.”

Read more:
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Robert Jenrick throws his hat in the ring
Mel Stride becomes fourth Tory MP to enter contest

Shadow communities secretary Kemi Badenoch, the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed Mr Sunak, and former home secretary Suella Braverman are expected to put themselves forward before nominations close at 2.30pm on Monday.

Contenders need a proposer, seconder and eight other backers to stand.

The parliamentary party will narrow the field down to four, who will make their case at the Conservative Party conference, which runs from 29 September to 2 October.

The final two, picked by the parliamentary party, will then go to a vote of party members in an online ballot that will close on 31 October with the result announced on 2 November.

According to polling by Savanta carried out between 19 and 21 July, Mr Tugendhat is the most popular potential contender among both the public, at minus three points, and 2024 Conservative voters, at 21 points.

Dame Priti was the least popular, at minus 28 points and seven points respectively, according to the research.

Mr Cleverly is second in the running, Savanta’s findings suggest, at minus nine points with the public and 19 points among 2024 Conservative voters.

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