Priti Patel to run for Tory leadership, sources say

17 July 2024, 13:45

Former Home Secretary Priti Patel has announced she will run to become the next leader of the Conservative Party.

Reports suggest Patel was urged to run by fellow MPs, and that an announcement is expected next week.

It comes after Rishi Sunak resigned from the Tory party leadership after losing the General Election to Labour in a landslide on 4th July.

Patel, 53, is expected to join shadow communities secretary Kemi Badenoch, shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat and former home secretary Suella Braveman in vying for the top position in the Tory party.

Shadow home secretary James Cleverly and former housing secretary Robert Jenrick are also thought to be preparing bids.

No candidate is yet to officially declare they will run for the Tory leadership.

Patel is said to have gathered a campaign team funded by Tory donors for her election bid that includes Conservative campaign headquarters staff and former advisors.

It is the first time Patel has stood in a Tory leadership race.

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A source told the Telegraph, which first reported the story: “Priti has kept a low profile and done her best to support others, she feels colleagues also need time to digest the general election result and don’t want posturing in the media from prospective candidates.

“She has quietly put a team together, as many colleagues from different sides of the party have over the past week urged her to run and she now has key MP supporters and campaign staff in place including some high profile Conservative donors.”

It comes as a senior Tory urged Sunak to stay on as party leader until November amid divisions in the party over how long the contest to replace him should take.

Shadow foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell said he understood Mr Sunak's "possible reticence" but spoke out against the idea of having an interim leader and argued "we should play it long".

He said the Conservatives should "adopt a modest profile" in the wake of its drubbing in the General Election and use the party conference, starting on September 29, for a "showcasing" of contenders.

Mr Sunak said he would step down as Tory leader once the formal arrangements for choosing his successor were in place.