Priti Patel has entered the race to be Tory leader, saying her party should put ‘unity before personal vendetta’.
Standing on a platform of ‘unite to win’, the former Home Secretary urged colleagues not to descend into ‘a soap opera of finger-pointing and self-indulgence’ in the wake of the landslide General Election defeat.
Sources close to Dame Priti said her remarks were not aimed at any potential rivals, including Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman, who had a war of words this month.
But Dame Priti, who served in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet but not since under either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak, also made clear that she believed it wasn’t Conservative values that led to election defeat, instead politicians who ‘fell out and left us short’.
She becomes the fifth MP to throw their hat in the ring, after James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat, Robert Jenrick and Mel Stride. Ms Badenoch is expected to declare her candidature before Monday’s deadline.
Priti Patel has entered the race to be Tory leader, saying her party should put ‘unity before personal vendetta’
Appealing to the party members who elect their leader, Dame Priti promised to give them a ‘greater voice and role’ should she earn the leadership.
She added that this would include playing a part in deciding policy and the party chair, as well as places on the party board.
With many current and recently unseated Tory MPs blaming their electoral collapse on a loss of support to Reform UK, the latest candidate to be the opposition’s leader said the ‘huge talent pool’ of members could provide the answers to this problem.
However, she clarified that it was not a question of moving the party to the left or right, rather that ‘competent, strong politicians’ need to return to ‘authentic conservative values’.
More to follow.
