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Louise Thomas
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The Conservative Party will appoint a new leader to replace Rishi Sunak on 2 November.
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly has become the first Tory MP to declare he will run for the leadership, and ruled out a merger between the party and Reform UK if he becomes the next Tory leader.
“The Conservative Party doesn’t do mergers. The simple truth is that we have got a series of principles,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
Conservative MP for Wetherby and Easingwold Sir Alec Shelbrooke has also nominated former home secretary Priti Patel for leader.
Mr Sunak will stay acting leader until a successor is appointed, and urged for “a smooth and orderly transition to a new Leader of the Opposition”.
Nominations will kick off on Wednesday evening and close in the afternoon on 29 July. Each candidate will need a proposer, seconder and eight nominations to qualify.
Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, Tom Tugendhat and ex-work and pensions secretary Mel Stride are expected to run.
Another possible Tory leadership race contender on the party’s right is Kemi Badenoch, while Jeremy Hunt and Victoria Atkins are among more moderate figures who could launch bids.
Cleverly dismisses Reform UK merger
James Cleverly has ruled out a merger between the Conservative Party and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK if he becomes the next leader.
“The Conservative Party doesn’t do mergers. The simple truth is that we have got a series of principles, “ Mr Cleverly told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
“We believe in civil liberty. We believe in free enterprise. We believe in efficient but modest size of the state, lower taxes… those are our principles, that is our agenda. What we need to do is expand our base of support.”
Conservative MP says he will nominate Priti Patel
A Conservative MP said he will nominate Dame Priti Patel to be the next Tory leader.
Sir Alec Shelbrooke said the former home secretary is “respected on all wings of the party”.
He told GB News: “I will be nominating Priti Patel because I think Priti has not just the pragmatic approach to all the issues but she was also there, brought into CCHQ, by Cecil Parkinson in 1997 about how to rebuild the Conservative Party after that defeat.
“You get this pattern in government, that after a long period of time in government, the structure starts to fall down. You think it would do the opposite, but it doesn’t. You’re so busy on governing that the structure falls down. That is task number one.
“Priti has had senior roles and she’s respected on all wings of the party, and I think that’s an important point. And it comes back to we’ve got to have a conservative leader representing the Conservative Party and get away from these different gangs that have formed and have been fighting with each other.”
Tory leadership election timeline
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly has said he is running to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.
In a video posted to social media announcing his candidacy, the former foreign and home secretary said the Conservatives needed to “re-establish our reputation as the party who, in government, helps grow the economy, helps people achieve their goals, their dreams, and their aspirations”.
The last Tory leadership election
The last Conservative leadership election came following Liz Truss’ resignation in October 2022.
Ms Truss was elected to replace Boris Johnson, but only lasted six weeks in office after he disastrous mini budget sent economic markets into turmoil.
Two candidates put their name forward: Penny Mordaunt and Rishi Sunak.
Ms Mordaunt withdrew from the contest less than two minutes before the deadline for nominations, leaving Mr Sunak the only candidate in the contest and thus, party leader without a ballot of MPs or party members.
Watch: Cleverly hints he will launch Tory leadership bid
Braverman tells Tories to reject ‘woke nonsense’ ahead of leadership race
Who is running for leadership and what are their odds?
Braverman tells Tories to reject ‘woke nonsense’ ahead of leadership race
Suella Braverman said the Tories must reject “divisive identity politics and woke nonsense” in order to win back Reform voters.
Former home secretary Ms Braverman, who is widely expected to launch a bid to lead the party from the right, used a slot guest-hosting a radio programme to argue that “we had quite a centrist Conservative agenda” and that “identity politics got out of control” under Mr Sunak.
“We need to be a party that’s firm and credible on immigration,” she told LBC listeners.
“We need to give some hope to the British people on taxation, robust on security and defence, and a real champion for common-sense British values. None of this divisive identity politics and woke nonsense. It really frustrates me that that has happened on our watch.”
Home Secretary suggests Tories need to be “bats**t crazy” to run for leader
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said the Tory leadership contest is like “a cross between Love Island and the jungle” as she attacked her shadow counterpart James Cleverly.
She told MPs: “The shadow home secretary, I think, has actually spent his entire speech not actually talking about any of the real challenges the country faces, but simply playing to the backbenches of the Conservative Party with a fantasy leadership application speech.
“And what is it about these former home secretaries and former home office ministers? You know, of the last seven home office ministers in cabinet, six of them are apparently running.”
She added: “So, if they are now lining up to do to the Tory Party what they’ve already done to the Home Office and the country, well, frankly, they deserve each other.
“Every one of them championed that policy on Rwanda, that the shadow home secretary, to be fair to him, did notoriously describe as batshit crazy, well, maybe that’s what you need to stand to be the Tory leader right now.”
Ms Cooper went on to say: “We’ve heard today this contest is going to run until November. We’ve got five months of this. We’ve hardly got any Tory MPs here because they’re all off doing their little chats and meetings. It’s like a cross between Love Island and the jungle.”
She added: “Somebody’s had a nervous breakdown and that is probably all of their backbenchers dreading getting a little text saying another candidate is wanting a chat and you can just see it, look at them on there, all of them really saying ‘I’m a Tory MP, get me out of here’.”
