Tory leadership candidates set out vision for party on last day of conference

Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch pitch to members in a bid to replace Rishi Sunak

Tory leadership candidates set out their vision for the Conservatives on Wednesday in their final speeches at the party conference.
Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch made their pitches to members in Birmingham in their bids to replace Rishi Sunak.
Addressing conference delegates, Mr Cleverly, the former home secretary, told the conference he “hadn’t planned to run for leader”, and apologised to delegates “on behalf of the Conservative parliamentary party who let you down”.
He called on the party to be “enthusiastic” and “be more normal” in a bid to win back those who switched to Labour and other parties.
“Let’s sell the benefits of Conservatism with a smile,” he said.
Tom Tugendhat said a Margaret Thatcher-style “Conservative revolution” was the only way the party could win back voters at the next election.
He insisted the Conservatives could return to power in five years’ time and warned the “country can’t afford Labour”.
In a 20-minute speech, Mr Tugendhat said the Tories must “rescue our country” from “the most venal and vindictive administration in decades”.
Kemi Badenoch struck a similar tone, vowing to “rewrite the rules of the game” and rid the state of Blairite influence for good.
The former business secretary pledged to embark on a “once in a generation” reform to unpick the legal changes introduced by New Labour.
She unveiled plans for a complete review of the state, which she said would go far beyond just looking at issues like whether to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
Robert Jenrick also placed the ECHR and migration at the heart of his speech, warning that the “world and his wife” cannot come to Britain and saying there “is no future” for the Tories unless they take a stand on the small boats crisis.
He argued the Conservative Party would crumble unless it got a grip on the small boats crisis, insisting change is only possible if Britain leaves the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
He vowed to end the “age of mass migration”, warning: “It’s not making us any richer. It’s putting immense pressure on our housing, our hospitals, our roads.”
James Cleverly pitched himself as the most experienced candidate to lead the Tories into the next election, warning that “now is not the time for an apprentice”.
Citing his track record as foreign secretary, he cast himself as a safe pair of hands in a world growing increasingly volatile with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Mr Tugendhat, a former soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, repeatedly said his military record meant that he understood how to lead.
He had a swipe at his leadership rivals for their “management experience around the Cabinet table” and said they would doom the party to repeat the mistakes of the past.
The shadow security minister also said that he was proud of Britain’s history and it was time for people to stop “talking our country down”.
“Over hundreds of years we’ve defended freedom around the world and we’ve always known what our flag means,” he told the conference.
Discussing the Left, Mrs Badenoch said she was “not afraid to fight” for what she believed in, pointing out that she had been battling identity politics “all my political career”.
She said: “Unlike the Left, we know right from wrong. But we allowed ourselves to be bound by aggressive identity politics, by a treasury whose rules were written by Gordon Brown and a legal system re-engineered by Tony Blair.
“We are going to rewrite the rules of the game. If I become leader… we will immediately begin a once-in-a-generation undertaking.”
Mr Jenrick also pledged to take a stand on “mad” net zero targets and defend British culture, so people can pass their national identity to their children and grandchildren “with pride”.
In a series of jibes at the Labour Cabinet, he claimed Sir Keir Starmer was more of an “undertaker” than a leader, branded Rachel Reeves “as wooden as Pinocchio, and only barely more honest”, and likened Ed Miliband to “a Wallace missing his Gromit”.
After days of trying to persuade members and colleagues in Birmingham, the leadership candidates will be whittled down from four to two next week by the parliamentary party before the membership gets the final say.
The winner will be announced on November 2.