James Cleverly today urged Tory members to make him leader and help make the party ‘more normal’ and plot a path back to power via ‘conservatism with a smile’.
In his pitch to the party conference he asked them to give ‘a mixed race boy from Lewisham’ a shot at becoming prime minister.
The former home secretary opened up about his childhood and his wife Susie’s battle with breast cancer as he addressed the Conservative faithful in Birmingham.
And he was very blunt that he would not entertain any deals with Nigel Farage and Reform to try to win back rightwing former supporters who defected at the election.
He attacked Reform as a ‘pale imitation’ of the Tories and demanded they were ‘authentic’ in order to beat Labour again.
He was applauded as he repeated his backing for stamp duty to be abolished – and when he mentioned his love of Warhammer figurines.
And he joined fellow candidate Tom Tugendhat in attacking frontrunner Robert Jenrick over immigration. The former home secretary pointly said he did not ‘walk away’ when the job got tough, a reference to Mr Jenrick resigning as immigration minister earlier this year.
Turning to his political hero, former US president Ronald Reagan, he said: ‘Let’s be more like Reagan. Let’s be enthusiastic, relatable, positive, optimistic. Let’s be more normal…
‘Let’s sell the benefits of conservatism with a smile, because if we do, yes, because if we do we can see off the threat from Reform and the Lib Dems and win back Labour, and re-energise those Conservatives who stayed at home at the last general election, get them off the sofa to the ballot box and voting Conservative again.’
All four Tory leadership candidates gave speeches to the last day of the party conference today before Rishi Sunak’s replacement is chosen by the membership on November 2.
The former home secretary opened up about his childhood and his wife Suzie’s battle with breast cancer as he addressed the Conservative faithful in Birmingham.
And he was very blunt that he would not entertain any deals with Nigel Farage and Reform to try to win back rightwing former supporters who defected at the election.
Tom Tugendhat had earlier insisted he can be the next PM today as the final four Tory leader made their big pitches to the party faithful
Kemi Badenoch is seen as the favourite to win
Mr Cleverly has spoken about his wife’s battle with breast cancer, which left his children ‘distraught’.
In a speech to the Tory Party conference, he said: ‘As you know, my wife Susie recently battled with breast cancer, and when we found out she had cancer, it rocked our lives.
‘I could hardly speak, our boys were distraught, but because of the amazing professionals, the doctors and the nurses of the NHS, her life was saved.
‘So to all those in the NHS, I say, thank you.’
Mr Cleverly went on the attack against Reform leader Mr Farage, who has accused the Tories of being ‘broken’.
‘They’re just a pale imitation of our great party,’ Mr Cleverly told the Conservative Party conference.
He added: ‘And never forget Reform didn’t deliver Brexit, we did. Reform didn’t cut immigration, I did. And mark my words, we will beat Reform by being the best version of ourselves, not a pale version of anyone else. So no mergers, no deals.’
It came after Tom Tugendhat insisted he can be the next PM, asking activists whether they were choosing for ‘opposition’ or Downing Street.
Speaking seemingly without notes as he stalked the stage, Mr Tugendhat said he could ‘feel the hope’ that there is a ‘way back’ into power.
‘I’ve had enough of Westminster’s games and petty point-scoring,’ Mr Tugendhat said in an apparent swipe at his rivals.
‘I’m standing to lead not just this party but to become the next Conservative PM of this great country.’
Talking up his record of serving in the army, Mr Tugendhat said he would recover the voters the Tories had lost to Reform, the Lib Dems and Labour.
‘If you stayed at home I want to make you proud to vote Conservative again,’ he insisted.
He joked that even prolific Labour donor Lord Alli could not ‘afford Labour’, saying Keir Starmer was heading the most ‘venal’ administration in decades.
He argued that Sir Keir’s mandate was already ‘evaporating’ and the Conservatives must be ready with ‘patriotism and purpose’.
‘My mission is to win the next general election and I have never failed a mission yet,’ he said.
Mr Tugendhat pointed to his support for a 100,000 cap on net immigration, but cautioned that tax cuts had to be grounded in a wider strategy.
In another dig at his fellow contenders,, Mr Tugendhat said: ‘My opponents claim that they’ve got more management around the Cabinet table… but I’m not here to manage, I’m here to lead.’
He also vowed support for Israel after Iranian missile strikes overnight.
‘In the face of aggression or when our freedoms are threatened I will always remember my pledge to keep the country safe,’ he said.
Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick are seen as the front runners after topping the ballot of MPs. But Ms Badenoch has been struggling to quell a spat over suggesting maternity pay is ‘excessive’.
And Mr Jenrick is facing a furious backlash from his rivals over a campaign video in which he claimed British forces were killing terrorists rather than capturing them to dodge European human rights rules.
Mr Tugendhat retorted that Mr Jenrick ‘knows nothing’ about sensitive military issues.
He dramatically revealed last night that the video included footage featured a soldier he served with in the army, who has since died.
Speaking to Newsnight, the former security minister said: ‘What’s particularly upsetting is that video is using a piece of footage of some of the people I served with, one of whom died shortly after that film was taken in an accident.’
He said that the soldier was ‘not able to defend himself from the accusation which is effectively being levelled against him’.
Mr Jenrick was using the clip to underscore his argument that the UK must leave the European Court of Human Rights.
Speaking seemingly without notes as he stalked the stage, Mr Tugendhat said he could ‘feel the hope’ that there is a ‘way back’ into power
Mr Jenrick is facing a furious backlash from his rivals over a campaign video in which he claimed British forces were killing terrorists rather than capturing them to dodge European human rights rules
Enthusiastic Tory activists in the conference hall in Birmingham yesterday
In the video Mr Jenrick said: ‘Our special forces are killing, rather than capturing terrorists because our lawyers tell us if they are caught the European Court will set them free.’
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly is the fourth contender to succeed Rishi Sunak – who has already fled the conference after making a brief apology for his election drubbing in July.
Mr Cleverly has been calling for stamp duty to be axed and will urge the party not to look so ‘grumpy’ in his speech this morning.
Next week, Tory MPs will whittle the field down to two before Conservative activists make their final choice, with the result due to be announced on November 2.
A YouGov survey yesterday suggested that the commanding lead enjoyed by Ms Badenoch among Tory activists has tightened dramatically.
The poll for Sky News found that the former business secretary is now just four points ahead of Mr Jenrick, down from 18 points in July.
Mr Jenrick will use his speech today to confirm he would take Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to finally end the small boats crisis and undermine the appeal of Reform, whose success in picking up the votes of disaffected Tories helped drive the party to its worst defeat in history.
Mr Jenrick will call for the Tories to be rebuilt as the ‘New Conservatives’ as Tony Blair did with New Labour in the 1990s.
‘The truth is this,’ he will say. ‘If we’re to tackle the immense challenges we face, if we’re to restore the public’s trust, we must build something new.
‘Nothing less than, a New Conservative Party, built on the rock of our oldest values and best traditions.’
He will identify five issues on which the party must ‘take a stand, including ‘rejecting mass migration’, focusing on ‘cheap reliable energy’, getting Britain building again and ‘building a small state that works, not a big state that fails.’
Former business secretary Kemi Badenoch will also focus on slashing the role of the state, saying it is time to dismantle the ‘bureaucratic class’ she says has paralysed Britain.
She will warn that the Tories failed to unpick the ‘Blair-Brown framework of ever-increasing social, economic and legal control’, saying: ‘The truth is the Left never left.’
Mrs Badenoch will also launch a defence of wealth creation and promise a renewed focus on removing the barriers to growth and celebrating entrepreneurship.
Mr Tugendhat arriving at the conference centre to deliver his crunch speech today
‘The Conservatives have to be the party of wealth creation,’ she will say. ‘Wealth is not a dirty word. It supports jobs and families. It pays for our schools, for our health service. We should encourage it.’
Mr Tugendhat will make a wider appeal to disaffected Tory supporters who deserted the party at the last election, vowing to make them ‘proud to vote Conservative again’.
‘If you went to Reform. I want to show you the Conservative values we share,’ he will say. ‘If you went to the Lib Dems. I want you to see the opportunities only we can deliver. If you went to Labour. I want to show you why freedom, not state control, is how we build.’
