Cleverly wants people to ‘stop holding their nose’ when voting Conservative and aims to be party’s Reagan

Former home secretary James Cleverly has revealed his biggest political inspiration - and it is not Margaret Thatcher

Tory leadership hopeful James Cleverly has revealed that he hopes to be the Ronald Reagan of his party and encourage people to vote for them “with a spring in their step”.

While many of his rivals aspire to be “the new Margaret Thatcher”, who led the party to three election victories and transformed the UK in a decade in power in the 1980s, Mr Cleverly said he was looking for a more “optimistic” role model.

The shadow home secretary was answering 12 questions for a video to help Tory members get to know him better and was asked which politician he would want to model himself on.

Ronald Reagan is Mr Cleverly’s chief inspiration although he admired Thatcher too (Bettmann Archive)

The 54-year-old, who grew up in the Thatcher era, said: “I think every Conservative will, as I have done, talk about their memories of Margaret Thatcher. But for me, it was Ronald Reagan – a fantastic communicator, a fantastic motivator, won that landslide victory in his second term, had a positive vision, an upbeat persona.

“I think that is what we need to do. We need to put forward our Conservative values, we need to put forward Conservative policies and Conservative plans. But we need to do it with an optimism and an enthusiasm.

“I want people to want us to win. That’s how you get them to vote for you, not holding their nose but with a spring in their step. That’s what we have got to focus on going into the future elections.”

His comments come after the party suffered its worst defeat in its 346-year history, returning just 121 MPs after Rishi Sunak’s disastrous campaign following months of bitter civil war.

Mr Reagan, who won two terms for the Republicans in 1980 and 1984, was famous for his optimism and positivity embodied in his election campaign ad “It’s morning in America again”, which told an upbeat story about his country.

Many have contrasted it to the negativity of Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” message.

James Cleverly is runnng for the Tory leadership (PA Wire)

Mr Reagan was close to Mrs Thatcher and the two led their countries through the end of the Cold War, as well as pushing through massive programs of privatisation and tax cuts.

Mr Cleverly was part of the cohort of MPs elected in 2015 who supported Brexit and wanted to see tax cuts. He initially supported Liz Truss over Mr Sunak and was foreign secretary in her government, which was responsible for the disastrous mini-Budget.

He continued as foreign secretary after she resigned and later became home secretary in Mr Sunak’s cabinet.

Mr Cleverly is seen as one of three centrist contenders to replace Mr Sunak alongside former security minister Tom Tugendhat and ex-work and pensions secretary Mel Stride.

The contenders on the right are former business secretary Kemi Badenoch and former communities secretary Robert Jenrick. Earlier this week former home secretary Priti Patel became the first to be knocked out of the race, which is set to finish in November.