Tories not looking to hire ‘caretaker leader’, says former cabinet minster

Dame Priti Patel became the fifth senior Conservative to announce she is running for the party leadership on Saturday.

John Glen said Labour had amassed a ‘misleading large majority’ at the general election (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Archive)

All Tory leadership candidates need to be “put through their paces” as the party is not looking to simply hire a “caretaker leader”, a shadow cabinet minster has said.

It comes after Dame Priti Patel became the fifth senior Conservative to announce she is running for the party leadership on Saturday.

The former home secretary, the first woman to put herself forward, joins Mel Stride, Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick in the race to replace Rishi Sunak.

Shadow paymaster general John Glen said the Conservatives needed to undergo “a rigorous process” that involved “demonstrating some humility” and having a clear plan of how to win back the trust of the British people.

He told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “It’s going to be a tough ask and I want every candidate to be put through their paces, I want the membership of the Conservative Party to be given the opportunity to scrutinise those candidates, my excellent colleagues, in the party conference in the autumn.”

Announcing her leadership bid on Saturday, Dame Priti wrote on Twitter: “I am standing to be the new leader of the Conservative Party. We must unite to win!

“I can lead us in opposition and unite our party, and get us match fit for the next election, with unity, experience and strength.”

She said she could deliver the “experienced and strong” leadership needed to unite the Tories’ disparate factions in an article for The Telegraph on Saturday.

As leader she would use the “huge talent pool … of Conservative Party members” to “solve the big challenges that Labour, the Lib Dems and Reform don’t have answers to”, she wrote.

Asked whether the party was trying to elect their next prime minister or an effective leader of the opposition, Mr Glen said: “We can’t concede defeat by just saying that it will be a caretaker leader, that isn’t inevitable.

“We see a Government that’s been elected with less than 34% of the popular vote. I think people generally acknowledge that it’s quite a precarious situation despite the misleading large majority, and a lot can happen in politics very quickly in this country.”

Shadow communities secretary Kemi Badenoch, the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed Mr Sunak, and former home secretary Suella Braverman are expected to put themselves forward before nominations close at 2.30pm on Monday.

Contenders need a proposer, seconder and eight other backers to stand.

The parliamentary party will 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, picked by the parliamentary party, will then go to a vote of party members in an online ballot that will close on October 31, with the result announced on November 2.

Dame Priti is the least popular contender, at minus 28 points with the public and seven points with 2024 Conservative voters, according to polling by Savanta carried out between July 19 and 21.

Mr Tugendhat is the most popular potential contender among both the public, at minus three points, and 2024 Conservative voters, at 21 points, the research shows.