It’s a busy day for the Tory leadership race in Westminster as the six candidates attempt to build momentum and MP support ahead of the first knockout round on Wednesday. Both Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly have this morning hosted their official launches, with contrasting pitches. While Cleverly set out policies he would support as leader, such as on taxation, Badenoch made a point of saying she would not get into policy details but instead focus on her vision. She said: ‘We can’t just keep having the same policy arguments from the last parliament. We lost. We are not in power’.
Badenoch was asked about reports that some of her colleagues find her abrasive
Badenoch, who is seen as the frontrunner, used her chosen venue of the Institute of Engineering and Technology to argue that her background as a systems engineer meant that she was the right woman for the job as she was used to finding answers to complex problems. Badenoch was introduced by the respected Cameron era cabinet minister Francis Maude and then Claire Coutinho, her shadow cabinet colleague, who was also a close ally of Rishi Sunak. Maude said Badenoch was a once-in-a-lifetime leader, while Coutinho argued that Badenoch’s bravery and authenticity meant she was the best pick.
Badenoch said in her leadership pitch that there were no easy answers. She told her party ‘we need to be confident Conservatives again’. This involves, she said, avoiding the mistakes of the past Tory government (which she served in) and how it often ‘talked Right but governed Left’. Badenoch said she was the candidate best placed to take the fight to Labour citing how her recent clash with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner at the despatch box had gone viral. She concluded: ‘Our party has principles, the very best principles. They are the principles of the British people, the principles not of the centre ground but of the common ground’.
In contrast, Cleverly – who was introduced by former cabinet minister Grant Shapps who is acting as his campaign manager – pitched his biggest strength as unity and spoke about specific policy plans. He said he would bring back the Rwanda scheme on illegal migration that Starmer had scrapped, and spoke about abolishing stamp duty and making it easier to build upwards.
Badenoch, when asked about tackling net migration, said she would not put a number on it with a cap as rivals Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat have floated. She suggested she would not get into it now as it ‘is not just about throwing out numbers and throwing out targets. Something is wrong with the system.. people who are throwing out numbers and saying: ‘Oh, well we will leave the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights)’ and so on are giving you easy answers’.
While nothing is certain, both Cleverly and Badenoch are viewed by Tory MPs as well placed to make the final four that will go to party conference. The bigger question is who can make the final two: on this, Badenoch’s allies fear that rival campaigns could try to block her from getting there given her popularity with members.
In the Q and A at her launch, Badenoch was asked about reports that some of her colleagues find her abrasive and that this could make it harder for her to win sufficient MP support. In response, she said that she was ‘combative on behalf of my party, not with my party’. Cleverly’s supporters hope his amiable nature means he will pick up supporters from other candidates as they are knocked out. Badenoch will need her own parliamentary charm offensive if she is to keep frontrunner status.
Comments