The Tory leadership battle is gathering pace today as favourite Kemi Badenoch formally launches her bid – warning the party must ‘renew’ to claw back power.
Hopefuls are stepping up their campaigns with MPs set to whittle the field down from half a dozen to four over the next fortnight.
Alongside Ms Badenoch’s pitch, former home secretary James Cleverly will lay out his goal of abolishing stamp duty – designed to appeal to the party rank and file.
But while two will soon fall by the wayside the contest still has until November 2 to run, with complaints that the Conservatives are focused on infighting while Labour pushes through a slew of controversial policies.
Ms Badenoch will accuse Sir Keir Starmer‘s administration of ‘trying to pull the wool over the eyes’ of voters on a raft of issues.
The Tory leadership battle is gathering pace today as favourite Kemi Badenoch formally launches her bid – warning the party must ‘renew’ to survive
Alongside Ms Badenoch’s pitch, former home secretary James Cleverly will lay out his goal of abolishing stamp duty – designed to appeal to the party rank and file
Robert Jenrick launched his campaign a month ago, but gave another speech in London yesterday in which he warned Labour was preparing ‘a declaration of war on the middle classes’ in next month’s Budget
She is also expected to insist that Labour will ‘fail’ and that the public is already ‘yearning for something better’ after less than 60 days of Sir Keir in Downing Street.
At his own event, Mr Cleverly is set to argue for a smaller state that does ‘fewer things very well, not everything badly’.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Mr Cleverly said stamp duty is a ‘bad tax’ and should be axed to help people on to the housing ladder.
MPs will hold their first round of voting on Wednesday, with the candidate with the least support knocked out.
Six MPs are battling it out to take over from Rishi Sunak.
Robert Jenrick launched his campaign a month ago, but gave another speech in London yesterday in which he warned Labour was preparing ‘a declaration of war on the middle classes’ in next month’s Budget.
Ms Patel launched her campaign on Friday and Mr Tugendhat will do so tomorrow.
However, Mel Stride – seen by many as struggling to stay in the race – is expected to wait until after the first round of voting.
Ms Badenoch will take aim at Labour for being ‘dishonest’ about the state of the UK finances, having signed off more than £10billion in public sector pay hikes.
She will also slam them for stripping up to 10million pensioners of their winter fuel payments and for the civil service appointments ‘cronyism’ row engulfing the party.
She is expected to say: ‘The British people are yearning for something better, and this Labour Government is not it.
‘They have no ideas. At best they are re-announcing things we have already done.’
Rishi Sunak (pictured watching the England cricket match at Lord’s last week) has kept a relatively low profile since his election trouncing, but is set to remain as leader until November
Tom Tugendhat is another of the contenders for the Tory top job
But she will acknowledge that the Conservatives can’t ‘just sit around pointing out how terrible Labour are’, adding: ‘We have to focus on renewal. The renewal of our party, our politics, and our thinking.’
Mr Cleverly will say: ‘An unstable world, global migration, and a crisis of confidence in capitalism.
‘We must get our act together as a party to provide the Conservative solutions to these problems. The solutions of the Left don’t and won’t work.
‘That means being honest and realistic about the role of the state. About what it should and can do, and what it should not and can not.
‘The state should focus on doing fewer things very well, not everything badly.’