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The race to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader in the wake of the Conservative Party’s wipeout at the general election has been underway for 10 days.
Ex-deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell has urged the Tory party to avoid an interim leader, saying the best option “is to seek to persuade Rishi to remain” until mid to end of November.
He said that the former prime minister’s instinct will be ‘almost certainly to go’ but that the 1922 Committee meeting showed ‘widespread feelings of sympathy and respect for Rishi Sunak.’
While no candidate has yet formally launched a bid, Suella Braverman’s hopes were dealt an early blow, as one source described the twice-sacked home secretary’s campaign to The Times as “dead before it even started”, accusing her of “going too hard, too soon”.
Other possible Tory leadership race contenders on the party’s right include Kemi Badenoch and Priti Patel, while James Cleverly, Jeremy Hunt, Tom Tugendhat and Victoria Atkins are among more moderate figures who could launch bids.
Key Points
- Rishi Sunak should stay as Tory leader until November, Andrew Mitchell says
- Suella Braverman’s Tory leadership bid ‘dead before it starts’
- Contest could drag on until end of the year, ex-minister says
- Runners and riders: Who will vie to replace Rishi Sunak?
Rishi Sunak should stay as Tory leader until November, Andrew Mitchell says
A senior Tory has urged Rishi Sunak to stay on as party leader until November amid divisions in the party over how long the contest to replace him should take.
Shadow foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell said he understood Mr Sunak’s “possible reticence” but spoke out against the idea of having an interim leader and argued “we should play it long”.
He said the Conservatives should “adopt a modest profile” in the wake of its drubbing in the General Election and use the party conference, starting on September 29, for a “showcasing” of contenders.
Rishi Sunak should stay as Tory leader until November, Andrew Mitchell says
The shadow foreign secretary argued the party should ‘play it long’ amid a split over the timeline of the contest to succeed Sunak.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain15 July 2024 10:46 1720846800Watch: Suella Braverman refuses to say if she'll be next Tory leader
Suella Braverman blasts Kemi Badenoch as Tories ignore calls for unity
Two of the frontrunners in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader have attacked each other, as infighting within the party deepens.
Just hours after ex-home secretaryJames Cleverly called for party unity, Suella Bravermanblasted her critics and claimed they were in “meltdown”.
She also named her rival Kemi Badenoch, tweeting: “I’d be interested in knowing whether Kemi thinks I’m having a ‘very public nervous breakdown’.”
Suella Braverman blasts Kemi Badenoch as Tories ignore calls for unity
Conservative Party descends into infighting after outspoken leadership candidate rips into Rishi Sunak’s election blunders
Maryam Zakir-Hussain13 July 2024 04:00 1720832400Jacob Rees-Mogg starts filming new reality TV show following general election defeat
Former Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg is reportedly filming a new a fly-on-the-wall reality TV series following his general election defeat
The Discovery+ series, said to be titled Meet The Moggs, will follow the former minister in his 17th-century country home and star his wife Helena and their six children.
The former MP for North East Somerset was among a number of Tory “big beasts” to have lost their seat last week, with filming thought to have captured his efforts on the campaign trail via the production company Optomen.
Jacob Rees-Mogg starts filming new reality TV show following general election defeat
The former minister lost his North East Somerset and Hanham seat to Labour’s Dan Norris last week
Maryam Zakir-Hussain13 July 2024 02:00 1720825200The real reason Rishi Sunak held his disastrous snap election
The prospect of hundreds of thousands of voters suffering a steep rise in their mortgage bills drove Rishi Sunak’s decision to call a snap general election.
The former prime minister feared the wrath of homeowners forced to pay an average of £240 more a month.
Households would have to pay even more eye-watering sums in many of the so-called “blue wall” Conservative seats in the south of England Mr Sunak was desperate to save.
The real reason Rishi Sunak held his disastrous snap election
Hundreds of thousands of homeowners would have been forced to pay an average of £240 more a month in mortgage bills
Maryam Zakir-Hussain13 July 2024 00:00 1720818033Will Rishi Sunak stick around to take on Keir Starmer at PMQs?
One of the many humiliations suffered by the Conservatives in the past week has been the temporary deletion of their X/Twitter account. For a short time, visitors to the party’s social media page were greeted only with the error message: “Something went wrong”. That’s an understatement, although the question remains exactly what went wrong.
Identifying a way forward could take months, if not years, but in the meantime what’s left of the parliamentary Conservative party has to form an effective opposition. In the short term, this means Rishi Sunak taking on Keir Starmer’s former role in the most brutal of job swaps…
Sean O’Grady has more...
Will Rishi Sunak stick around to take on Keir Starmer at PMQs?
Some unseated prime ministers have stayed on to lead their party in opposition at the despatch box, but some have exited the stage with haste. Sean O’Grady looks at what might be in store for the leader of the new opposition
Maryam Zakir-Hussain12 July 2024 22:00 1720810833Furious Tory MPs claim plot to stitch up leadership contest after 1922 vote controversy
In case you missed it...
Furious Tory MPs have claimed there is a ‘plot’ to determine who replaces Rishi Sunak after controversy over the election of a new chair of the influential 1922 Committee.
Less than a week after losing the general election, the party is involved in an angry row over its internal elections.
Tensions are running high as the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs will decide the rules for the party’s next leadership contest.
Tory MPs claim plot to stitch up leadership contest after 1922 vote controversy
Election of Bob Blackman ignites Tory civil war over fears race to replace Rishi Sunak is being manipulated
Maryam Zakir-Hussain12 July 2024 20:00 1720801833Suella Braverman blasts Kemi Badenoch as Tories ignore calls for unity
Two of the frontrunners in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader have attacked each other, as infighting within the party deepens.
Just hours after ex-home secretaryJames Cleverly called for party unity, Suella Bravermanblasted her critics and claimed they were in “meltdown”.
She also named her rival Kemi Badenoch, tweeting: “I’d be interested in knowing whether Kemi thinks I’m having a ‘very public nervous breakdown’.”
Suella Braverman blasts Kemi Badenoch as Tories ignore calls for unity
Conservative Party descends into infighting after outspoken leadership candidate rips into Rishi Sunak’s election blunders
Maryam Zakir-Hussain12 July 2024 17:30 1720796433James Cleverly seeks to jokingly dispel Westminster rumour – by admitting he is a Warhammer fan
James Cleverly has jokingly sought to dispel a rumour he says has been making its way around Westminster for years, by admitting he is fan of the game Warhammer.
The Conservative MP and former foreign secretary posted a selfie on X, formerly Twitter, with a freshly painted Warhammer 40k figurine much to the amusement of many social media users.
“There have been some rumours about me floating around Westminster for some time. There is no point in trying to hide this any longer. It’s true”, the Lewisham-born father-of-two and MP for Braintree in Essex wrote.
Cleverly jokingly dispels Westminster rumour – by admitting he is a Warhammer fan
Warhammer 40K is a game of fantasy battles in which players collect mini-figurines of mythical creatures to act out clashes on a tabletop battlefield
Maryam Zakir-Hussain12 July 2024 16:00 1720790771A Conservative MP has criticised his own party saying the Tories deserved to lose the election.
Tory MP blasts own party and reveals biggest downfall in Question Time rant
A Tory MP received a round of applause after hitting out at his own party, saying they deserved to lose the general election. George Freeman, who was a senior minister in Rishi Sunak’s government, slammed the Tories and accused his team of “taking voters for granted”, during a passionate Question Time speech on Thursday (11 July). Mr Freeman said: “I think there were a lot of good policies but the conduct of many of my colleagues in office and my party in office, we’ve looked as though power is ours by divine right, a crown to be played with while people are suffering and we’ve been thrown out unceremoniously for it.”
Maryam Zakir-Hussain12 July 2024 14:26 Newer1 / 5OlderDisclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
