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Louise Thomas
Editor
Dame Priti Patel is promising a revolution in the Conservative Party by offering to hand back some control of policy to ordinary party members and allow them to elect key officials.
The leadership pitch by the former home secretary is an overt attempt to stop the flow of Tory members defecting to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and restore right-wing policies at the heart of her party.
Dame Priti has the 10 MPs needed to nominate her on Monday for the first round of the contest, which is set to take four months until 2 November.
Party members will be given a choice of a final two following the Tory conference in October.
Democratisation of the party will include allowing members to directly elect the chair, rather than leaving the appointment in the hands of the leader. Members will also get a much greater say on the party board.
The move will contrast heavily with Mr Farage’s Reform UK, which has been criticised for being a “dictatorship” where members have no say.
Reform is a company and Mr Farage is the majority owner. He has resisted attempts to democratise the party, and during the election made policy decisions in the middle of interviews.
Dame Priti, a leading right-wing Brexiteer, last year helped found the grassroots Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO) which has been calling for power to go back to ordinary members amid anger over the rift between the membership and MPs.
She believes that giving members a say will also help unite the party again after growing divisions and civil war left it unfit to fight a general election. Many members refused to go out and deliver leaflets or knock on doors, while others switched their vote to Reform or stayed at home.
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.”
She will hope that by giving members a greater say it will allow the party’s policies to move to the right and undermine the powerful centrist One Nation Group, on the left of the party, whose strength lies in controlling a majority of Tory MPs and Conservative campaign headquarters (CCHQ).
Ms Patel, who infamously danced with Mr Farage at the last Tory conference, has made no secret of her desire to put “authentic” Conservative values back into practice which she believes will help get the party back into government.
These include policies on health and social care, energy, security, community cohesion, immigration, education, childcare, and getting people on the housing ladder without developing on the green belt.
Supporters of Ms Patel have been claiming she would tear CCHQ down and rebuild it after failures on communications, research and, particularly, candidate selection were identified as key weaknesses ahead of the party’s worst ever defeat in a general election on 4 July.
She will rely on her 30-year experience working for and representing the party, from the time she supported former leader William Hague through to her work in the Home Office and other departments.
Critics will go after Ms Patel over her involvement in creating the Rwanda deportation policy, allegations that she bullied civil servants, and over the way she was sacked by Theresa May for breaking ministerial rules on a trip to Israel.
Ms Patel will be up against fellow right-winger Robert Jenrick, as well as centrists James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat, who have all declared. She is also likely to face former business secretary Kemi Badenoch, with Suella Braverman hoping to enter the race. Former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride has declared his candidacy, claiming to be a unifying figure.
