Tom Tugendhat and Robert Jenrick join Tory leadership race as James Cleverly leads with MP endorsements - live
Three Tories have thrown their hats in the ring as the three-month leadership contest to replace Rishi Sunak begins
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Your support makes all the difference.Robert Jenrick is the third Tory MP to announce his bid to become the next leader of theĀ Conservative party after Tom Tugendhat submitted his papers.
The two contenders will challenge James Cleverly and other MPs hoping to replace the outgoing Rishi Sunak after the election defeat.
Mr Tugendhat, seen as a candidate from the moderate wing of the party, indicated he would be prepared to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if needed to regain control of UK borders.
Shadow home secretary Mr Cleverly is currently leading the leadership race with three endorsements from Tory MPs, including Gagan Mohindra, Peter Fortune and Simon Hoare.
Kemi Badenoch could be throwing her hat in the ring soon after her leadership website was spotted under maintenance.
Other former cabinet ministers expected to announce their bids include Priti Patel, Mel Stride andĀ Suella Braverman.
The Conservative Party willĀ appoint a new leader on 2 November and contenders have until Monday to win the support of the 10 MPs they need to make it onto the ballot paper.
Shadow minister urges party to become a ādiligentā opposition
Andrew GriffithĀ has urged the future Tory leader to form a ādiligentā opposition to win back votes lost to Reform UK.
He told Sky News: āIt is not about Reform it is about how we get back the Conservatives that gave us their votes in 2019 and previous elections and for whatever reason did not support us at the last election.ā
He said the way to win back the electorate is to make sure the party is a ādiligentā opposition.
The shadow science secretary added: āThere is lots of significant challenges and the road back is going to be hard and require a lot of discipline. You control what you can control.ā
Andrew Griffith rules out running in the leadership race
Shadow science secretary Andrew Griffith has confirmed he will not run in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as the next Conservative leader.
He told Sky News: āAnyone would fancy it, but I am not standing.ā
Mr Griffith added: āWe have got a good bench, Iād like to see that develop over the next few days. it is a really important job and we have a big piece of work to do to demonstrate trust and competence.
āThere is a debate about policy but I think above all else it is about how we demonstrate as a Conservative Party what we stand for and how we can deliver it competently.
āThat starts with being a good leader of the opposition.ā
Tom Tugendhat launches Tory leadership campaign video
The Tory leadership contender has posted a video launching his bid to become the next party leader.
In the clip, he admitted āwhere we failedā and vowed to rebuild the trust lost during 14 years of Tory administration.
He said: āWe said weād cut taxes and they went up. We said weād cut immigration, it went up. We let people down. We lost their trust.
āWe fought among ourselves, instead of delivering for the British people.
āWe forgot leadership is about fixing the problems people actually care about. I will end the infighting, rebuild the trust and deliver for you. I want to lead the Conservative party and make us ready for government in five years time.
Mr Tugendhat then promised voters that a future Conservative government will be straight with the public, adding: āWe will say what we mean and we will do what we say.ā
More rivals expected to run in Tory leadership contest
The battle for the future of the Conservative Party officially began on Wednesday night with the opening of nominations in the contest to replace Rishi Sunak following the Toriesā worst general election result.
A long and potentially divisive campaign will eventually produce a winner on November 2.
The first to launch his leadership campaign was James Cleverly, joined by Tom Tugendhat.
With just a few days until nominations close, we could see more Tory MPs confirming their bids today. They have until 2.30pm on Monday and contenders need a proposer, seconder and eight other backers to stand.
The parliamentary 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.
Tory leadership contender refuses to trash Rwanda scheme
Tom Tugendhat has refused to say whether the Rwanda deportation scheme was wrong.
Asked the question on BBC Radio 4ās Today programme, Mr Tugendhat said he was ānot going to be laying out policies in that specific way, what I am going to be talking about is Conservative valuesā.
Pressed on where the Tories had got wrong with their policies, he replied: āWhat went wrong is we failed to deliver.ā
Tom Tugendhat touts his record in leadership tilt
Tom Tugendhat is running for the Conservative leadership on a record of delivery, Archie Mitchell writes.
The Tory MP said the party needs to admit it failed to deliver for the public after the 2019 election, highlighting his own achievements as evidence he can turn it around.
Mr Tugendhat told LBC: āI have a track record of delivering, whether thatās on operations in the military in Afghanistan or Iraq, or whether thatās standing up to dictators in Parliament, which got me sanctioned by China, Russia and Iran.
āOr whether itās delivering on the security agenda that, sadly, I havenāt been able to talk about, for rather obvious reasons as the cabinet minister responsible for national security.ā
He added: āThose areas have demonstrated that I can deliver and unite the party to make sure we are able to win the next general election.ā
Tugendhat refuses to name his biggest threat in the leadership race
Tom Tugendhat has refused to name his key contenders in the race to become Tory leader.
The shadow minister confirmed he has enough support for nomination.
But when asked about who could be his biggest threat, he told Sky News: āWhat is interesting about these competitions is that I am up against a lot of people, people who are friends of mine, worked with and in partnership with.ā
Pressed on whether he has his eyes put on Kemi Badenoch, the MP for Tonbridge said: āI canāt answer the question I am afraid.ā
Shadow security minister accuses Labour of āundermining the MoD'
Tom TugendhatĀ has accused the Labour government of āunderminingā the Ministry of Defence after failing to set up a timeline for defence spending.
He has been asked about claims from the chief of the general staff Sir Roly Walker that the UK must be ready for war within three years.
The shadow security minister said: āHe is talking about is the failure to prepare we have seen in the run up to conflict. We saw this when I was serving in Afghanistan.ā
Hitting out at the government, he added: āI am worried about what Labour has set out, they havenāt put a timeline, they have undermined the MoD and their capacity to plan. And they have made it harder for defence industry to make sure we can support our operational needs.ā
Tugendhat refuses to say whether he is ready to leave the ECHR
Conservative leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat has denied that his suggestion that he would be prepared to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is political opportunism.
āNo, Iāve been very, very clear I am prepared to make any decision that will keep the British people safe,ā he told GB News when questioned about his change of tone on the issue.
āI am prepared to leave the ECHR, or indeed any other institution that doesnāt serve the interests of the British people.ā
Mr Tugendhat talked up his experience as former security minister and in the armed forces, saying he has a ātrack record of deliveryā for the British people.
Tom Tugendhat: āWe need to rethink everythingā
Tom Tugendhat has said the Conservative Party needs to ārethink everythingā after facing its worst general election defeat in history. The Tory leadership contender, seen as one of the front-runners, said the party failed to deliver since the 2019 contest, Archie Mitchell writes.
And Mr Tugendhat, from the moderate wing of the party, pointed specifically to soaring migrant numbers and the rising tax burden when asked why voters rejected the Conservatives.
The morning after officially launching his leadership bid, he told BBC Radio 4āsĀ Today programme: āWhat we need to do is look at everything that happened in the last four or five years and make sure we rethink the agenda on which we stand.
āWe are three weeks into a five year term of opposition, sadly, and we need to rethink everything we do in order to serve the British publicā¦ itās going to take time but at the moment we need to apologise for the mistakes we made and recognise we failed to deliver.ā
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