Meet the Tories expected to run in the race for next party leader

Nominations are now open in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Leader of the Opposition.

Hold onto your hats – the race to find a new leader for the Conservatives after the worst election result in the party’s history is now beginning.

But don’t hold onto them too tight. It’s going to be more than three months – yes, a quarter of a year – before Rishi Sunak’s successor is finally announced on November 2.

Nominations opened yesterday, and so far three men have put their name forward: James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat and Robert Jenrick.

But we’re expecting a few more people to end up on the list, encompassing almost the entire ideological spectrum that fits under the Tory banner.

The result may be yet another bitter battle for the soul of the UK’s most successful political party, of the kind we’ve become used to since Brexit.

Only this time, they’re vying to become Leader of the Opposition rather than Prime Minister. At least for the time being.

Here’s what you should know about the MPs who are either confirmed or expected to stand in the Conservative leadership race.

James Cleverly

For years, Cleverly has been one of the most high-profile Conservative MPs in the House of Commons.

He had a spell as party chairman under Boris Johnson, who later appointed him Education Secretary.

Liz Truss made him the first Black Foreign Secretary in UK history, and he stayed in that position when Rishi Sunak took over.

When Suella Braverman was sacked as Home Secretary following the publication of an op-ed in the Times in which she suggested the Met was not tough enough on pro-Palestinian protesters, it was Cleverly who was appointed to replace her.

This made him the final figurehead for the government’s Rwanda deportation scheme – which he reportedly once described as ‘bats**t’.

He’s considered a slick media performer who might be able to act as a bridge between the party’s right wing and centre.

Tom Tugendhat

A former officer in the Territorial Army, Tugendhat is the only one on this list who has never served as a Secretary of State.

He’s served in Cabinet as the Minister for Security, though, and spent five years as the chairman of the influential Foreign Affairs Select Committee.

Tugendhat first came to the general public’s attention as a candidate in the Conservative leadership contest that followed Boris Johnson’s resignation in July 2022.

He’s considered to be close to the centre of the Tories ideologically, and a recent Savanta poll found he was the most popular leadership contender among both the public and 2024 Tory voters.

But he could struggle to wrangle the party’s more fervently right-wing MPs.

Robert Jenrick

Jenrick, a former Housing Secretary, reportedly spent the days after the General Election calling around new and old MPs to set himself up as a potential leadership candidate.

In his media appearances since, he has focused his attention on an issue that defined much of his work in parliament since 2022: immigration.

He was appointed Immigration Minister in Rishi Sunak’s first Cabinet after taking over from Liz Truss as PM and stayed in the role for over a year.

But he resigned in December 2023, arguing that Sunak’s effort to iron out legal issues with the Rwanda scheme did not go nearly far enough.

If the Tories decide they lost the election because their stance on immigration was not hardline enough, Jenrick might be their pick for leader.

Kemi Badenoch

Undoubtedly one of the biggest rising stars to emerge from the Conservative ranks in the past few years, Badenoch (pronounced Bayd-noch) is the bookies’ favourite to take over as leader.

While serving as Business Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities, she’s made her name by engaging directly with culture war issues, most prominently surrounding gender.

This wouldn’t be her first pop at the party leadership: she previously came fourth in the July 2022 contest, behind Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak and ultimate winner Liz Truss.

Amazingly, Mordaunt and Truss both lost their seat at the last election and Sunak’s stepping down. Could that mean Badenoch is now destined for the top spot?

A win for her would be a win for the right wing of the party, but MPs believe she can also appeal to the centre.

Priti Patel

Remember her? Patel has been on the backbenches for almost two years now, since she resigned as Home Secretary upon Liz Truss’s arrival as PM.

But over her three years in the role, she had considerable impact. She was the one who first initiated the plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, and she introduced a new points-based immigration system.

However, she was also found to have broken the bit of the Ministerial Code that says civil servants should be treated with respect after allegations of bullying.

Boris Johnson received heavy criticism for sticking by her despite the breach.

Supporters of Johnson and Truss are reportedly among her fans in parliament, so she may get a boost from longer-serving MPs.

Suella Braverman

Patel’s successor as Home Secretary had an equally controversial tenure in the post – or should that be tenures?

After she was also found to have breached the Ministerial Code, Braverman was sacked from the position by Liz Truss and replaced by Grant Shapps.

But just six days later, Truss was out as PM and Sunak decided to reinstate Braverman as Home Secretary.

Before her sacking in November last year, she displayed a penchant for stoking culture wars with some memorable rants against those she deemed ‘the wokerati’.

She’s continued to provoke outrage in the weeks since the General Election.

Speaking at the US National Conservatism Conference earlier this month, she said: ‘The Progress [Pride] flag says to me one monstrous thing: that I was a member of a government that presided over the mutilation of children in our hospitals.’

Mel Stride

The outsider bet for the Tory leadership contest, Stride was the Work and Pensions Secretary ahead of the election and has kept that role in the Shadow Cabinet.

He appeared on the media rounds a lot over the election campaign – more than any other government minister, in fact.

Perhaps this exemplifies the way he’s viewed within the party: the ultimate moderate safe pair of hands, a decent media performer who’s competent enough in his role.

Like Patel, he was first elected to parliament in 2010, making him a relative veteran on the Tory benches.

However, he retained his Central Devon seat this year by just 61 votes, so he’s got direct experience of the political threats breathing down his party’s neck.

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