The results of the members ballot:

• Kemi Badenoch 53,806 (56.6%)
• Robert Jenrick 41,318 (43.4%)

Badenoch was the favourite from the very start of the contest, with a poll of Tory party members from late July putting her as first choice of the initial 6 candidates.

Badenoch served as Business Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities under Rishi Sunak, and resigned from Boris Johnson’s government shortly before his resignation in July 2022.

Her task now will be to rebuild the Conservative party after years of scandal and division, which culminated in their worst ever electoral defeat. With just 121 MPs left in the Commons, and the threat of Reform UK still ever present, Badenoch will aim to unite the right of British politics, and rebuild trust in the Conservatives as a whole.

It provides the party with a clean slate from their 14 year period in government, and Badenoch will be eager to distance the Tories from the legacy of Sunak, Truss, Johnson and co. The scale of the task is certainly daunting, given Labour’s huge majority in parliament, and the relative disunity within the Tory party between One-Nation moderates, and the right-wing.

Both of the final 2 candidates were seen as titans of the Tory right, although Jenrick was formerly seen as a centrist figure prior to his time as immigration minister.

In her acceptance speech, Badenoch said it was an “enormous honour” to be elected as party leader. She paid tribute to Robert Jenrick, who she said led a “great campaign” full of energy and determination.

“You and I know that we don’t actually disagree on very much and I have no doubt that you have a key part to play in our party for many years to come”

Finishing her speech, she pledged to hold Labour to account and prepare the Tory party for government.

“The time has come to tell the truth, to stand up for our principles, to plan for our future, to reset our politics and our thinking, and to give our party and our country the new start that they deserve”

During her leadership campaign, Badenoch aimed to speak about principles rather than policy; which drew criticism from Jenrick and his supporters. Those principles she has sought to emphasise are freedom, family, and personal responsibility.

She was an outspoken critic of the last Tory government, which she said “talked right and yet governed left”, leaving the public feeling confused and “manipulated”. Her campaign focused on renewing the party for 2030, as this is the first full year that the Tories can be back in government.

It means Rishi Sunak’s time as leader has come to an end. He now returns to backbenches after serving as Chancellor, Prime Minister and briefly as Leader of the Opposition.

In reaction, Sunak said Badenoch would be a “superb leader” who will “renew our party, stand up for Conservative values, and take the fight to Labour”

Badenoch becomes the first Tory leader to be elected in opposition since 2005, when David Cameron took over after the party’s 3rd election defeat in a row. Badenoch will be hoping that it doesn’t take the Tories 3 election defeats to get back into Downing Street. She will be encouraged by polling from BMG research last night, which showed them ahead of Labour for the first time in 3 years on 29%, with Labour on 28%.

Keir Starmer personally is unpopular, but still seen as a better Prime Minister than either Jenrick or Badenoch, according to the latest YouGov poll.

Shortly after the announcement, Prime Minister Keir Starmer congratulated Badenoch on her victory, and hailed the first black leader of a Westminster party as a “proud moment for our country”.

Kemi Badenoch will now form her shadow cabinet in the coming days, and look to scrutinise an already unpopular Labour government. Prior to the result, both candidates said they would be willing to serve in their opponents shadow cabinet.

It means that either Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader. Conservative party members will be able to vote for their preferred leader from 15th October to 31st October, with the result announced on 2nd November.

In today’s fourth ballot of MPs, the contenders received the following votes:

• Kemi Badenoch 42
• Robert Jenrick 41
• James Cleverly 37

James Cleverly had the momentum after the Tory party conference, coming first in yesterday’s ballot of MPs, seeing an increase of 18 votes. Today’s result therefore came as a huge shock, with many expecting that his place in the final 2 was fairly secure.

It means that Cleverly actually lost 2 supporters overnight, while Tom Tugendhat’s 20 votes from yesterday seem to have been evenly distributed to Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick.

Cleverly had not been considered a front runner in the contest before the party conference, but his well-received speech in Birmingham propelled him into pole position. It was rumoured that Cleverly’s supporters may lend their votes to Robert Jenrick in this final vote of MPs, as they perceived him to be an easier opponent, but this may have backfired spectacularly.

Robert Jenrick actually lost votes from the second to third ballot, worrying many in his camp that he would fail to make the final 2, against many prior expectations. In today’s vote, he just beat out rival James Cleverly by a narrow margin of 4 votes.

Kemi Badenoch was considered the favourite for the leadership for much of the campaign, but her divisive comments around the UK’s “excessive” maternity pay and minimum wage certainly damaged her momentum. After yesterday’s ballot, where she placed 3rd out 4 contenders, it was widely expected that she could be eliminated. But today saw a huge reversal of her fortunes, placing 1st in the final ballot of MPs.

James Cleverly has focused his campaign on making the Tories appear “more normal” to win back voters who defected to Reform UK and the Lib Dems. He also pledged to increase defence spending and build more homes if he became Prime Minister.

Badenoch v Jenrick

The final 2 candidates for Tory leader represent the same faction of the Tory party, with Jenrick and Badenoch both considered ardent right-wingers.

In a recent Conservative Home simulation of Tory members conducted from 3 to 4 October, after the party conference, Kemi Badenoch is projected to defeat Jenrick, winning 53 to 33 per cent.

In their respective pitches, Robert Jenrick pledged to build a “new Conservative party”, leave the ECHR and implement an “effective freeze in net migration”.

Badenoch’s leadership pitch has focused on renewing the party for 2030, the first full year the Tories could hypothetically have back in government. She wants to restore small-state Conservativism, take on the “joyless decadence” of identity politics and change the party to appeal more to young people.

The decision now lies with the Conservative party members, who have 2 weeks to cast their ballot in an online vote, before the final result is announced on November 2nd.

In the third round of voting by Tory MPs, the contenders received the following votes:

• James Cleverly, 39

• Robert Jenrick, 31

• Kemi Badenoch, 30

• Tom Tugendaht, 20

MPs will vote again tomorrow to select the final two candidates, who Tory members will then vote on. The new leader will be announced on Saturday 2 November.

In this round, Cleverly led the way with a whopping eighteen more votes compared to the last time, with Badenoch gaining two. Meanwhile, Jenrick lost two votes, and Tugendhat lost one vote.

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.”

All four contenders – Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, and Tom Tugendhat – presented their cases to party members at the Conservative conference in Birmingham.

Cleverly, who had a slow start in the race, gained traction following a well-received speech at the conference, whereas Badenoch’s campaign was hindered by her divisive comments, such as saying maternity pay was “excessive” and the minimum wage was “harming businesses”.

Jenrick was broadly viewed as a leading candidate until now, while Tugendhat, despite receiving a positive response from party members in Birmingham, continued to be seen as the underdog and is therefore out of the race.

In his second attempt at becoming Tory leader after his 2022 bid, he positioned himself as a reliable leader who could restore the Tory party’s credibility following its historic defeat in the general election by uniting the party and regaining public trust.

Former home secretary Priti Patel went out in the first round of voting by Tory MPs in September, followed by former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride the week after.

Here’s a look at what they each had to say.

Tom Tugendhat

Tom Tugendhat positioned himself as the candidate of “substance” and “principles,” calling for a Thatcher-style revolution to revive the Conservative Party. His speech struck a defiant tone, declaring that the UK “can’t afford Labour” and condemning Keir Starmer’s government as “the most venal and vindictive” in recent memory.

Tugendhat, who said he was frustrated with Westminster’s political games, promised to “rebuild CCHQ from the ground up” and make Conservative voters proud again. He pledged to transform the party into a “campaigning winning machine” ahead of the general election, adding: “My mission is to win, and I have never failed a mission yet.”

He laid out plans for an “effective deterrent” on legal migration, proposing a cap of 100,000 a year, while acknowledging that businesses still need workers for sectors like health and social care. Tugendhat also vowed to strip back “excess regulations” from the NHS and deliver “great education wherever you live.”

James Cleverly

James Cleverly focused on reconnecting the Conservative Party with the British people, acknowledging past mistakes. He began by apologising to party members on behalf of Tory MPs, saying, “we have to be better, much better,” but also urged the party to be “proud of our record,” including achievements like delivering Brexit and cutting crime. “Don’t let anyone trash our record,” he added.

Cleverly positioned himself as the candidate capable of steering the party back to its core values, and said the party should draw inspiration from his “political hero” Ronald Reagan. “Let’s be enthusiastic, relatable, positive, optimistic,” he said. “Let’s be more normal.”

He dismissed any talk of merging with Reform UK, describing it as a “pale imitation” of the Conservative Party and taking credit for policies such as Brexit. “Reform didn’t deliver Brexit, I did. Reform didn’t cut immigration, I did,” he added, saying there would be “no mergers, no deals.”

His platform prioritised cutting “bad taxes” like stamp duty and ensuring that work always pays by making sure the state never takes more than half of every pound that someone earns. He also committed to increasing defence spending to 3% of GDP and promised to “build, build, build” while safeguarding the greenbelt.

In a dig at other rivals who he said lacked experience in big Cabinet roles, Cleverly said: “We need to choose someone to lead us who has already done their apprenticeship, and get this party winning again.”

Robert Jenrick

Robert Jenrick framed his campaign as a bid to return to Thatcherite conservatism, vowing to overhaul the party just as she did in the 1970s. “We must free ourselves from Tony Blair’s Human Rights Act and leave the ECHR,” he declared, promising a tougher stance on migration and national sovereignty.

He said the Tories had failed “failed to deliver the strong NHS, the strong economy and, yes, the strong border we promised”.

Jenrick criticised Labour’s policies, accusing them of “robbing poor pensioners to placate union paymasters,” and set out a “New Conservative Party” vision. He argued that the “sheer scale” of mass migration was undermining Britain’s social cohesion and vowed to introduce an “effective freeze” on migration numbers, in reference to his long-standing pledge to reduce net migration.

In language used by Reform UK MPs, Jenrick outlined five key ‘stands’ that the Tories must make. These included “securing our borders” by deporting illegal migrants, managing net zero policies sensibly, and building more housing while protecting the countryside. Jenrick also pledged to restore Britain’s identity and culture, standing up to the “establishment that puts Britain last”.

Kemi Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch delivered a fiery speech, declaring “I’m here to say enough,” as she took aim at both Labour and her own party’s recent shortcomings. She argued that the Conservative Party had lost faith in its core values, saying “we stopped being leaders and became managers,” and called for the Tories to return to being the party of wealth creation.

Badenoch took aim at Keir Starmer, referring to him as “socialism in a suit,” and warned that Labour’s leadership would push the country into decline. “The Conservative Party reverses decline,” she claimed, as she laid out her vision for a revitalised and principled future for the party.

Recalling her upbringing in Nigeria, Badenoch said she deeply valued “Conservative freedoms” and had “seen what happens when a country loses sight of those principles.”

She expressed scepticism about current net zero policies, stressing that while she believes in climate change, the response must align with Conservative principles. She also noted that young Tories often feel pressured to hide their political beliefs due to fear of backlash or being “marked down” in academic settings.

On policy, Badenoch announced a “once in a generation” reform, promising a “comprehensive plan to reprogramme the British state.” Her proposals included overhauling international agreements, human rights laws, the Treasury, the Bank of England, the civil service, and the NHS.

At an event at the Conservative Party conference, Kemi Badenoch said: “I have shied away from calling China a threat because I think that if you escalate in language, then you need to be ready to escalate in action.

“I have tried to do other things as trade secretary, supporting Taiwan and making sure we give those people who are our allies our support.

“But we are very complacent about some of the economic threats that China is putting on the whole world. When I would go to WTO [World Trade Organisation] meetings everybody was worried about China. We are not alone in this. 

“What we need to make sure is that we have a resilient economy, that it is not economically coerced by bigger countries, that means being very focused on what we do well, making sure that we are able to manufacture if we are in a dangerous position, increasing food security, increasing supply chains, that is how we deal with the threat that is coming from China.”

Badenoch has also suggested she would review the 2050 net zero targets saying countries like China have “a far bigger impact than we do”. She added, “There’s no point being the first to get zero if we’re also the first to get bankrupt.”

Tom Tugendhat, another Tory leadership hopeful and former security minister, has recently suggested China’s leadership team are “tyrants”, telling Conservative Party members, “I’ve been in Parliament, standing up against the dictators and tyrants that at the time some people thought were friends but we now know to be exactly who they are – [Vladimir] Putin and Xi [Jinping] and the Ayatollah – call them all out.”

It leaves Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly as the 4 remaining candidates, who will each make their case at the Tory party conference on 29th September.

The results of the second ballot were:

• Robert Jenrick 33

• Kemi Badenoch 28

• James Cleverly 21

• Tom Tugendhat 21

• Mel Stride 16 – ELIMINATED

Bob Blackman, Chairman of the 1922 Committee, confirmed that further ballots will take place on the week commencing 7th October to reduce the contest to 2 candidates. The pair will then be put to a electronic/postal ballot of Conservative party members.

Rishi Sunak’s replacement, and the person tasked with rebuilding the Tory party after their worst ever election defeat, will then be announced on 2nd November.

Mel Stride was always an outsider candidate for the party leadership, with many surprised that he made it past the first round of voting last week. He effectively became the face of the Tory election campaign thanks to his frequent morning media appearances.

Unlike some of his former cabinet colleagues, Stride held on to his parliamentary seat, but by a measly 61 votes. He blamed party infighting for their election defeat, and promised to unite the party and win back voters from the Lib Dems, Reform and Labour.

He positioned himself as a centrist economic expert, citing his experience working in the Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions. It is unclear who his supporters will now back, but in a contest this tight, his 16 votes could make a huge difference in the post-conference ballots.

Last week’s first ballot saw Robert Jenrick come out of top with 28 votes, and Kemi Badenoch in second with 22. Kemi Badenoch’s camp accused Jenrick of lending votes to Cleverly to push her out of the final two, but Jenrick’s team refuted this claim. The pair were again 1st and 2nd in today’s ballot, with Jenrick increasing his tally to 33 and Badenoch receiving 28 votes. Among Conservative party members, Badenoch is the favoured candidate, with Conservative Home polling giving her a 16-point lead over Robert Jenrick.

James Cleverly will be disappointed that he again got just 21 votes, suggesting that Priti Patel’s supporters clearly switched their allegiance to Badenoch, Jenrick and Tugendhat.

Despite this, polling suggests that according to the general public, James Cleverly is the Tory leadership candidate most likely to make a good Prime Minister.

The 4 remaining candidates will spend the next few weeks campaigning before heading to party conference. Some contenders have complained that they are only being given 10 minutes each to make their speeches at the party conference, arguing that this would restrict their chance to put forward their visions for Britain.

Some Tory MPs have also expressed concerns about the drawn-out nature of the leadership contest, and the fact that Rishi Sunak will still lead the party when Labour delivers its first budget statement on 30th October. It is expected that Sunak won’t feature much at the party conference, with it becoming a “beauty parade” of sorts for the 4 remaining candidates.

During his campaign launch, Tugendhat, a former security minister, pledged a ‘Conservative revolution’ and stressed the importance of restoring integrity to his party. He spoke about using the party’s time in opposition to lay the groundwork for action ‘on day one’. 

“The last great economic transformation that our country saw was in the 1980s – some of you will remember it well,” the Thatcherite-loving Tugendhat said. He went on to criticise what he perceives as the growth of bureaucracy in the UK, which he believes is ‘stifling growth and smothering opportunity’. He called for dismantling this red tape to enable the economy to ‘breathe free and make our country grow again.’

Tugendhat also promised to be receptive to ‘serious ideas’ that could drive economic growth, hoping to ‘release the brake’ and ensure the UK has the necessary skills and infrastructure. Drawing heavily on his military experience, he revealed his plan to allocate 3 per cent of the nation’s GDP to defence ‘to keep the British people safe and prosperous.’

Tugendhat opened his speech with an apology and a call for the Conservative Party to be ‘sober and serious’. He acknowledged that the party ‘owes’ members better and how ‘duty [has given] way to ego’. 

With immigration shaping up to be a central issue in the leadership race, he pledged to reduce migration and expressed his willingness to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if it interfered with deporting ‘foreign criminals’ and if reforms proved impossible. He mentioned cases from Australia and Germany, where serious offenders had faced severe consequences.

He said, “The entire purpose of international treaties is to keep British people safe, not for us to worship international treaties.”

In the leadership contest, one of Tugendhat’s competitors, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, also advocated for leaving the ECHR. Jenrick faced subtle criticism from other candidates like Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly, who suggested Jenrick was offering ‘easy answers’ or ‘soundbites and quick fixes’ that wouldn’t be effective.

Jenrick defended his position, saying: “On illegal migration… if you come here illegally, you’re detained, you’re removed within days either back to Albania or to a safe third country like Rwanda, whatever is available in the years ahead. To do that, I have come to the conclusion that we have to leave the European Convention on Human Rights. I don’t believe it’s reformable.”

Tugendhat’s speech marked the last official campaign launch in the Conservative leadership race, as tomorrow Tory MPs start their first round of voting. The current field of six candidates will shortly be whittled down to four, ahead of the Conservative Party Conference at the end of the month. The candidates will be further narrowed down to two, who will then face a vote by party members. The new leader is expected to be announced on November 2nd.

While all candidates have the support of at least ten MPs, Robert Jenrick currently has 17 MPs openly supporting his campaign, followed by former business secretary Kemi Badenoch, who has secured 13 public backers. Tugendhat, with seven supporters, is tied with former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride and has one more supporter than James Cleverly, the former home secretary. Former home secretary Dame Priti Patel has five MPs publicly backing her bid. 

Cleverly’s comments came during his leadership launch speech where he also outlined his primary goals if elected prime minister. He has committed to bring back the Rwanda scheme.

While revealing his intention to allocate 3 per cent of the UK’s GDP to defence spending, Cleverly accused Starmer of abandoning defence, as his government has a 2.5 per cent target.  He argued that national security can’t be achieved by ‘penny-pinching’ and emphasised the need to prepare for potential threats by maintaining strong defences. He added: “We will send a signal to our enemies that the British are prepared. We will not leave the field.”

Cleverly stressed that only a unified Conservative Party could regain the public’s trust. Cleverly emphasised the need for party unity, saying, “We must unite if you want the British people to listen to us again, so when they are fed up, as they inevitably will be with Starmer’s inept, high-taxing, red tape-loving, big state, crony-filled government, they will look to us again to be the change that they want to see in this country.”

The 54-year-old also highlighted his achievements as home secretary, particularly in reducing migration. He claimed that his policies led to a significant drop in migration numbers, a decrease in asylum applications, a reduction in the processing backlog, and an increase in deportations. 

Cleverly vowed to use his reputation to restore the controversial Rwanda scheme, a measure intended to deter illegal migration by sending asylum seekers to the African nation. He accused Labour of mishandling diplomatic relations by announcing the cancellation of the scheme to the media before notifying the Rwandan government. 

After winning the election in July, Starmer said the Rwanda scheme ‘had the complete opposite effect’ claiming it had ‘gimmicks that don’t act as a deterrent’. The Labour manifesto pledged to curb small boats crossing the Channel by hiring investigators and using counter-terror powers to ‘smash’ criminal people smuggling gangs.

Cleverly’s vision to ‘restore’ trust in his party also included reinforcing the principles of capitalism. He argued that free markets are essential for economic growth and criticised the perception that high taxes and increased regulation benefit the public. 

In line with his economic vision, Cleverly pledged to abolish stamp duty, reduce the welfare budget, and be transparent about the trade-offs involved in such decisions. He said: “We should enable self-reliance, family first, resilience and community solutions. Tax and subsidise cannot be our mantra anymore, so we must think and act like Conservatives again.”

Cleverly is one of six contenders in the race to succeed Rishi Sunak as the Conservative Party leader. Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Dame Priti Patel, Tom Tugendhat, and Mel Stride are also in the running. As the competition progresses, the list of candidates will be narrowed down to four by the end of the week. 

She argued that the party needs to ‘reboot, reset, and rewire,’ accusing previous leaders of having ‘talked right but governed left’. 

In her first major ‘Renewal 2030’ speech in London, Badenoch voiced concerns about the recent election of five ‘sectarian Islamist’ MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, who unseated Labour in July.

These MPs announced on Monday that they have formed a new ‘Independent Alliance,’ making them the fifth largest party in the Commons. Badenoch argued that they embody ‘alien ideas’ that don’t belong in Britain and said she is ‘far more worried’ about them than the five new MPs from Reform UK.

Badenoch also spoke about immigration, stating she wouldn’t support an annual cap like some of her rivals, arguing that such targets have been ineffective in the past. She criticised other candidates for offering ‘easy answers’ and stressed the importance of fixing the system instead of making empty promises. She vowed to confront ‘hard truths’ and to avoid the political ‘spin’ she believes has characterised recent politics.

She also distanced herself from Tories advocating for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which outlines the rights and freedoms in member countries. Critics, including Robert Jenrick, argue that the treaty hinders the UK’s ability to deport asylum seekers and curb illegal migration. However, Badenoch contended that leaving the ECHR ‘would not be enough,’ noting that other signatory countries successfully deport most of those they wish to remove. 

In a dig at Labour, she said the party has ‘no ideas’ and has announced policies that the Tories ‘have already done’, saying they are ‘clueless, irresponsible and dishonest’. 

“Their model of spend, spend, spend is broken, and they don’t know what to do, and this will only lead to even more cynicism in politics,” she added. 

Keir Starmer responded to Badenoch’s remarks by refusing to take ‘lectures’ from the previous government, which he said left the country with a £22 billion pound blackhole in public finances. 

“The country is in a real state, the economy has been badly damaged, nobody really argues in relation to that,” Starmer said. “So, I think that what the Conservatives could do was to apologise for the mess that they made.” 

James Cleverly and other contenders like Tom Tugendhat, Dame Priti Patel, and Robert Jenrick have also been making their pitches for leadership. Tory MPs will vote on Wednesday to reduce the candidates from six to five, with another vote next Monday to further narrow the field. 

Robert Jenrick has claimed that the upcoming October budget will serve as a ‘declaration of war on the middle classes.’ Jenrick accused the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, and Chancellor Rachel Reeves of orchestrating a ‘tax raid on working families’ after having already targeted the highest earners.

Speaking in central London just before Parliament’s return from recess, Jenrick vowed to ‘sock it’ to both the prime minister and the chancellor if he wins the leadership contest to succeed Rishi Sunak. While Labour has pledged not to increase taxes on ‘working people’ – specifically ruling out hikes on income tax, National Insurance, and VAT – Jenrick pointed out the ambiguity surrounding their definition of working-class people and suggested other taxes could still be increased on October 30.

The government has categorically denied plans to raise taxes on working people. Rachel Reeves has also clarified Labour’s position on the definition of working people saying: “working people are people who go out to work.”

Speaking from Downing Street’s gardens last Tuesday, Keir Starmer warned that the upcoming October budget would be ‘painful’, hinting working Brits should expect tax rises in the short term to fix ‘societal rot’.

Addressing supporters at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster, Jenrick criticised Starmer and Reeves. “Labour’s first budget is shaping up to be a declaration of war on the middle classes of this country,” he claimed. He questioned the purpose of raising taxes, suggesting they would fund ‘pointless new quangos’ and cater to ‘union paymasters.’

Jenrick warned that it would soon become clear to the new prime minister that ‘the highest-earning pips have already been squeezed,’ and predicted that the next target would be working families. He highlighted those ‘who get up at six or seven in the morning, juggling childcare, multiple jobs, doing overtime, the people who are starting their own businesses’ as those who would suffer. ‘We must fight against Keir Starmer,’ he urged. 

“We must fight against him crushing wealth creators and working people across our country. That is what Conservatives do. We stand up for working people.”

Jenrick claimed Labour lied during their general election campaign: “They stood on a platform of a ‘read my lips, no new taxes’ manifesto, and here we are, just seven weeks later, and they are preparing the ground to raise your taxes.”

Expressing confidence in his party’s future, Jenrick said he believed at his “core” that the Tories could win the next election. When asked if he saw himself as prime minister, he responded, “We can kick out Keir Starmer, we can consign this to a one-term Labour government, and we can get back to leading this country in the right direction.”

However, Robert Jenrick isn’t the only leadership candidate taking the fight to Labour. Dame Priti Patel has scrutinised Keir Starmer after scrapping the winter fuel payments: “He was completely dishonest with his complaints and his claims about the British economy that he has inherited which were clearly made to justify his nasty financial assault on the very people who deserve dignity in their retirement and who have spent their working lives contributing to the very fabric of our nation.”

Tom Tugendhat has also fired shots at the government in recent days saying, “[Labour] want a bigger state, they want to please their union donors, and they want to borrow, tax and spend. Because that is what Labour always do.”

The other candidates standing to be the next leader of the Conservative Party are James Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch, and Mel Stride. 

The 62-year-old is widely seen as an outsider in the contest but he was quick to pick up the ten signatures from the parliamentary party to make it onto the ballot. Being one of the most outspoken internal critics of Liz Truss and her 2022 mini budget, Stride was Rishi Sunak’s successful campaign manager after she resigned. Unlike other candidates, this is his first attempt at leadership.

Under Sunak’s government, Stride served as work and pensions secretary and was the most frequently televised cabinet minister during the general election, appearing on Good Morning Britain seven times alone. Because of this, he accepts the public has only seen his professional demeanour, but says his friends would call him loyal, determined, and funny.

Before entering the Commons at 48, Stride was an entrepreneur building businesses in the US and UK. He thinks this experience distinguishes him from the other candidates vying for the Tory top job.

“That is important experience because I think the Conservative Party now needs to be fundamentally rebuilt,” he said. “It needs to be restructured in terms of its policy platform so that it will appeal to those who have gone over to Reform, while also not forgetting those we have lost to Labour and the Liberal Democrats.”

Stride refused to say whether there were ideological differences between him and the other candidates, instead claiming that he can “reach out to all wings of the party” and that there is far more that unites the Tories “than separates us.” Stride went on to express concern that the party had lost sight of some of its core values. “One thing that is uniting us is the fact that we have kind of lost sight of some of the values that used to burn very bright in the past,” he said, specifically mentioning opportunity and aspiration.

He added there aren’t “many discordant voices” around lowering migration, cutting taxes, and having a strong defence. However, Stride is equally focusing on external issues in preparation for the May local election, saying the economy is the most pressing issue facing the UK. “The biggest issue facing the UK, at the moment, is the cost of living […] there is no doubt people are feeling financial pain.”

Stride, however, “doesn’t accept” that the economy “isn’t great,” noting the country’s “near record high employment” and emphasising that “we mustn’t forget we did some things really, really well.”

Stride would consider relaxing planning permissions so the UK can build more houses, saying his party “has time”. He wants the issue of housing to tie in with young people, revealing he supports, if the economy allows, a tax scheme allowing young people to allocate a portion of their national insurance contributions from their first jobs into a fund they can later use to get on the housing ladder.

“Those things are only possible if you have the fiscal room to do it. And that’s where things like the welfare reforms I was bringing in when I was secretary of state for work and pensions are so important because you can actually save billions of pounds,” he said. 

He believes the “biggest challenge” now facing the Conservative Party is reconnecting with young people, adding: “Expect to hear a lot from all candidates.” The Tory leadership contender also suggested he would consider aligning the migration rate with the number of houses being built, saying that it would be open to a “healthy debate.”

The other candidates in the race are James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat, Priti Patel, Robert Jenrick, and Kemi Badenoch. Politics UK has reached out to all of them for an interview.