The race to replace Rishi Sunak as leader of the Conservative party is officially underway.
James Cleverly is the first Tory leadership hopeful to declare his candidacy. With nominations for the first round set to open this evening, the shadow home secretary has released a video telling his personal story.
In his opening pitch, Cleverly declared his ambition to “unite” his beleaguered party and “overturn Starmer’s loveless landslide.”
As the party of Opposition, “We must not descend into the infighting, navel-gazing and the internecine manoeuvrings at Westminster that plagued us in government,” said Cleverly, writing in The Daily Telegraph. Good luck with that.
He will be up against some fierce competition. As many as eight candidates are expected to throw their hat in the ring before nominations close on Monday.
Robert Jenrick currently appears to be the frontrunner, according to new polling of the party membership. The former immigration minister resigned from his position late last year, criticising the Conservative government’s Rwanda legislation, which he said did “not go far enough.”
Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat are close behind Jenrick as favourites. Tugendhat, the shadow security minister, has already received endorsement from prominent Tories, Steve Baker and Damian Green.
Mel Stride, former secretary of state for work and pensions, signalled his intention earlier this week to run, as a “unity” candidate, while former Home Secretaries Dame Priti Patel and Suella Braverman are also widely expected to enter the race.
Braverman, who would fight the contest as a candidate representing the Tory right, has recently dispelled rumours that she was considering defecting to Reform UK. She previously suggested that her party ought to consider an “accommodation” with Reform and warned of the risk of the Conservatives becoming “a collection of fanatical, irrelevant, centrist cranks”.
Under plans drawn up by the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs and the party board, the formal process to elect a new leader will take three months in total, with Sunak remaining as acting leader in the meantime.
To enter this week’s initial round, candidates will require the backing of at least 10 MPs. By the time of the party conference in September, the contest will have been whittled down to four candidates, and, on 10 October, the final two will be announced. On 2 November, the Tories will officially elect their new leader.
Polling indicates that up to 30 per cent of Tory party members are still undecided over who they want as their next leader. Let the battle commence.
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