Robert Jenrick becomes third Tory MP to launch leadership bid
25 July 2024, 11:35 | Updated: 25 July 2024, 11:39
Robert Jenrick has become the third Tory MP to throw his hat in the ring to replace Rishi Sunak as party leader.
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He is joining shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat who have also put themselves forward to lead the party.
The battle for the future of the Conservative Party officially began on Wednesday night with the opening of nominations in the contest following the Tories' worst general election result.
Mr Jenrick's campaign team said the ex-immigration minister had gathered enough support to run and that he would submit his nomination on Thursday morning.
"To have any path back to government we must win back those voters we have lost, across the board but particularly to Reform," Mr Jenrick's campaign manager Danny Kruger said.
"At the same time we have to bring our party together, united behind one set of coherent Conservative principles."
He said Mr Jenrick has the "energy, temperament and policy agenda to take on our rivals and lead us back to power in five years".
Read more: Former Home Secretary James Cleverly announces Tory leadership bid
It comes after Mr Tugendhat talked up his experience as former security minister and in the armed forces as he launched his bid on Wednesday.
He said he was willing to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and denied that his change of tone on the matter was political opportunism.
He also said he believed he could turn around the Tories' disastrous result to win an election as leader of the Conservative Party in five years' time.
Meanwhile, Mr Cleverly said the party's MPs "have to get out of that habit" of "rowing amongst ourselves", which he said gave the British people the wrong impression that they were more interested in themselves than serving the public.
He said the Conservative Party needs to "expand our base of support", but when asked about a recent poll suggesting around half of Tory members are in favour of joining forces with Nigel Farage's Reform UK, he said the party "doesn't do mergers".
Shadow communities secretary Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman are both expected to put themselves forward in the Tory leadership race too, along with former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride and ex-home secretary Priti Patel.
Nominations will close at 2.30pm on Monday and contenders need a proposer, seconder and eight other backers to stand.
The party will then narrow the field down to four, who will make their case at the Conservative Party Conference, which runs from September 29 to October 2.
The final two, also chosen by the parliamentary party, will then go to a vote of Conservative Party members in an online ballot that will close on October 31.
The final result will be announced on November 2.
