Suella Braverman is the 'Conservative equivalent' of Jeremy Corbyn, says James Heappey

25 July 2024, 14:12

James Heappey describes Suella Braverman as the Conservative equivalent of Jeremy Corbyn

James Heappey has said that Suella Braverman as Tory leader would be the Conservative equivalent of Jeremy Corbyn and would delay any future parliamentary success.

Stepping in as a guest host on LBC, Mr Heappey said the Labour Party's huge losses under Corbyn show why 'drifting' to extremes does not make a party more electable.

"The 2019 election was as much a vote for the sort of things the Conservative Party was gaining on, as it was a reaction to Corbyn and a fear that he might become our Prime Minister," Mr Heappey said.

He added that Labour did what it "needed to do" and "elected a more centrist, more pragmatic leader" willing to confront the left of his party to bring them back to a position that was "more electable."

"I simply don't understand why we would even consider drifting off to the right under somebody like Suella, who would effectively be for the Conservative Party as Corbyn was for Labour, only to find out that that's not where the British public are.

"And instead of making ourselves re-electable within one Parliament, we end up taking two or three parliaments because we have to learn the lessons that we've literally just seen the Labour Party learn for themselves."

Read more: Robert Jenrick becomes third Tory MP to launch leadership bid

Read more: Tom Tugendhat ‘ready to leave ECHR’ if necessary as he becomes second Tory MP to launch leadership bid

James Heappey discusses Labour’s planning proposals with caller

He also accused the Conservative party of undervaluing winning back more moderate voters and instead "chasing" Reform voters, who he's not sure are where the Tories' "future lies."

Heappey's comments come as 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.

Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat and Robert Jenrick have put themselves forward to lead the party.

Mr Jenrick's campaign manager Danny Kruger said "To have any path back to government we must win back those voters we have lost, across the board but particularly to Reform,"

"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".

Who is going to be the next Tory leader?

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.