Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel, Mel Stride, and Tom Tugendhat have entered the first round.
Competence is a question of means, not ends; the only way to have a debate purely or even primarily on competence is if everyone involved is agreed on what they were trying to do – which is manifestly not the case.
We must clean up our act and make people proud to support us again, and must recognise and empower our members, activists and supporters.
Ideas cannot be ignored altogether. We need to press the candidates on policy, and not just on whether we like individual proposals but whether or not their proposals cohere into a clear-eyed programme for government.
Our acting editor discusses the leadership contest with Sonia Sodha and Gillian Joseph on Sky News’ Press Preview.
Now he has launched his leadership bid, my central question for the Shadow Home Secretary is: what does James Cleverly’s Britain look like? Where is the country going wrong, and what must change?
Suella Braverman, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, and Tom Tugendhat all posted respectable shares of first preferences from our panel.
James Sunderland is recorded saying the Rwanda flights scheme is a “crap” policy at an event organised by the Young Conservatives.
“Sometimes it rains in the UK…Rain is not going to put us off”, says the Home Secretary.
She, Penny Mordaunt, and Johnny Mercer continue to simply trade places on the podium, as they have since November – and only these three have a positive score of over 30 points.
If James Cleverly thinks he can light the touch paper, walk away, and watch the fireworks, he is very much mistaken. If the ban on HuT is to have any effect, it will be necessary in the coming weeks and months to get into the weeds of HuT, its leaders, and its footsoldiers.
We should not shy away from facing the many unsavoury episodes of imperial history. The consequences of Britain’s historical actions are still shaping world events negatively. But that doesn’t mean the moral wrongs of our ancestors should necessarily dominate and guide our actions today.
We are determined that blue-on-blue personal attacks on candidates will not be tolerated. After all, the constant sniping and backbiting amongst parliamentary colleagues was one of the contributory factors to our defeat.