Conservatives in the UK have elected their new leader. Kemi Badenoch MP (North West Essex/Conservatives), a Brexit supporter and believer in conservative values, beat runner up Robert Jenrick MP (Newark/Conservatives), 57% to 43% in a membership ballot.
Conservative Party
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Tories wait for next leader
The Conservative party faithful have voted for their next leader, and the result is due out tomorrow. It’s a choice between Kemi Badenoch MP (North West Essex/Conservatives), and Robert Jenrick MP (Newark/Conservatives), the two frontrunners in a long contest.
It’s difficult to scry a prediction between the two. The Conservatives seem in a mire of their own. The loss of Rishi Sunak MP (Richmond and Northallerton/Conservatives) is a great one, and Sir Keir Starmer is putting up an impressive fight against the odds at present.
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Jenrick takes aim at party
In the final countdown for the Conservative leadership, candidate Robert Jenrick MP (Newark/Conservatives) has taken aim at the party for a supposed lack of “respect” for its membership.
His proposal is to make GBNews host and former MP Jacob Rees Mogg its new chairman. The idea may restore a sense of conservatism to it, but it may take more to bolster member confidence.
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Tories whittle to two
The Tories voted out James Cleverly MP (Braintree/Conservatives) in the final phase of the MP’s ballot for leadership of the party. It turns next to the party faithful to place their online vote. They’ve got until the end of the month.
Now left in the running are Kemi Badenoch MP (North West Essex/Conservatives) who won with 34.7% of the vote, and Robert Jenrick MP (Newark/Conservatives) who surged ahead to edge out Cleverly with 33.9% of the vote.
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Tories boot Tom
Tom Tugendhat MP (Tonbridge/Conservatives) has lost his place in the running to be the next Conservative leader.
He got 16.8% of the vote compared to frontrunner James Cleverly (Braintree/Conservatives) who got 32.8%.
The MP’s phase of ballot’s is due to conclude tomorrow as the remaining candidates are reduced to two.
Next, party members will get the chance to vote for the winner in the hopes of winning back the keys to Number 10.
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Where do the Tories go next?
The four candidates left willing to stand for the Conservative leadership race will find out who’s going through to its final ballot next week. The next stage after is the membership vote so it’s nail biting stuff.
It’s worth thinking back on the last five leaders they’ve had, because all of them have been Prime Ministers and led the country through some testing times. They even saw out Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Presently the political furore is largely centred around Sir Keir Starmer and his alleged dealings with a Labour donor, but the small boats crisis continues and in spite of policy pronouncements, it hasn’t stopped.
It isn’t particularly scientific to imagine what each of the candidates might be able to achieve if they were to have at it now, and neither is it appropriate since the party itself is trying to decide its own way forward.
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Scottish Tories get new leader
Conservatives in Scotland have elected a new leader. Russell Findlay MSP (West Scotland/Scottish Conservatives) beat two other candidates to take the helm of the opposition to Labour and the SNP in Scotland.
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Tories down to four
The Conservatives have whittled their leadership contest down to four candidates in the second MP’s ballot. Mel Stride (Central Devon/Conservatives) was knocked out yesterday having gained only 13.4% of the votes.
Stride sat just behind James Cleverly (Braintree/Conservatives) and Tom Tugendhat (Tonbridge/Conservatives) in joint third place, who both got 17.6% of the vote. In first place was Robert Jenrick (Newark/Conservatives) with 27.7% of the votes.
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Patel knocked out
Priti Patel (Witham/Conservatives) has been knocked out of the Conservative leadership race in the first MP’s ballot. She ended her campaign in last place with 11.9% of the vote, behind fifth place Mel Stride on 13.6%.
In first place was Robert Jenrick (Newark/Conservatives) who gained 23.7% of the votes cast. It means there are five candidates left until the second MP’s ballot next week.
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Is Tugendhat a winning formula?
The Conservative party leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat is set on winning. He believes he can restore their fortunes as a winning party.
“I want to be completely open about what I’m doing. I am not just running to be the next leader of the Conservative Party. I am running to be the next Conservative Prime Minister.”
He says their problem is disunity but doesn’t say how he’ll fix it. Perhaps he believes a leader stops it happening in the first place.
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Who is Mel Stride?
Mel Stride is standing for the Conservative leadership on a wordy platform, that is according to his campaign website.
He’s iterated a complete vision of a better party based along the lines of his leadership. The question is over what he can bring to the table.
He represents Central Devon, typically a place known for old age. His experience in politics has served an ill-fitting reputation well. His ambition, however, is to lead a political party to power.
His secular experience is in the line of work the party is known for; conferences, publishing, and business activities. It stands him well with members, but would it count towards a general election?
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Is Badenoch up to it?
Kemi Badenoch is a fresh figure in conservatism but relatively inexperienced as well. She, like a few of the other leadership candidates, face a problem of lack of gravity. The likes of Lord Cameron and more recently Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak loom larger.
Her efforts haven’t gone unnoticed, however, largely because she tries so hard. She has a campaign of her own – Renewal 2030 – that pledges to restore the party. It’s underpinned by a belief Starmer takes off Blair too much and Reform UK threaten to undermine the party also.
Indeed, in an article written three days before the election she said Labour winning would “surrender” Number 10 to the enemy. These are strong terms, but Badenoch knows her territory. She even defended Nigel Farage when Natwest debanked him, so she’s cut her teeth too.
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True blue for Cleverly
James Cleverly is standing to be leader of the Conservative party on an eerily reminiscent platform. It’s all about unity, fighting off Labour, and delivering results.
James Cleverly – jc24.co.uk However, his mini-manifesto is a bundle of contradictions. He pledges to lower taxes and raise defence spending. He promises to shrink the state and prosper a free and fair society.
It’s not a coherent plan on the surface of it. Maybe a plunge into the deep end of politics will change things. It can shape a leader in the long term.
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Priti brightens up the place
Aside from MP’s said to be feeling under threat, Conservative leadership candidate Priti Patel MP is at least willing to go out.
Patel was re-elected for Witham with 32.7% of the vote, a drop from 66.6% in 2019. It came in an election that went down as disastrous for the Conservative party.
It’s not a good result, but this campaign is about party members and not just anyone’s next-door neighbour.
The reaction at hustings events and meet-and-greets across the country is key. She’s been to Somerset, the East Midlands, and Harrogate to name a few locations.
She’s had a good time as well, by the looks of it. Her Facebook profile is replete with happy, smily pictures.
Her platform is less happy and snappy, and more serious, however.
Her campaign slogan is “Unite to Win” and touts 30 years of experience behind her of serving the party. In real terms, you’d imagine this counts for little.
Yet after a bruising defeat, a more outgoing and lasting leadership may be what’s needed. In hindsight, it may be Patel’s year after all.
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Is Churchill our hero?
Anti-Churchillian sentiment in the Conservative Party exists, but what is its opposite form? It’s a sense of things needing to be put right.
Is there nothing wrong at our southern coastline? Is the footage real or fake? It’s not “fake news” that counts here but a mentality that doesn’t accept facts as they are.
The facts are used by politicians and we deal in our feelings, surely?
The feeling the Left has a monopoly over speaking leaves conservatives to feel it’s only Parliament that’s left to solve problems. It’s a false feeling, of course.
The fact is only Parliament leading to government can solve a problem that is in its remit. The fact is also leftist groups oppose the normal functioning of a government. They are sometimes vociferous about it.
Those on the Conservative right feel a need to challenge such a shift in emotion as unrepresentative and a distraction from a real work of a democratic state.
These are the tugs of war – tussles in the halls of power – we see today. It plays out in neighbourhoods and it shows itself in public squares. It’s a challenge and a need for representation that’s felt.
The notion of having a Churchillian response is for a Tory government to juggle. It’s not a remedy but it’s a patch on an issue at times. The fact of a Labour government makes life more difficult for us.
It’s time to leave feeling behind and rely on our understanding, or we’ll get left behind.