Tory leadership race – live: Tugendhat wants to replace Sunak as nominations open

Robert Jenrick has announced he will stand to replace Rishi Sunak as the next leader of the Conservative Party.

According to the Telegraph, he has managed to make it to the ballot paper after gathering the support of 10 Conservative MPs.

A one-time close ally of Mr Sunak, he also turned on the former PM over issues such as immigration and housebuilding in the dying days of his premiership.

Some Tory MPs, on both wings of the party, are wary of his apparent change of heart on the issue. But he is seen as someone with the politics to win back right-wing voters lost to Reform UK, with the personality of David Cameron to help the Tories win back voters lost to the Liberal Democrats in the blue wall.

He is also yet to formally kick off a campaign, but is one of the seven expected candidates who have picked up nomination papers.

Nigel Farage has accused Tory leadership candidates of only “pretending” to want to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Reform UK leader said ditching the ECHR had become a priority for contenders because his party is now a political “force”.

Mr Farage has previously used his maiden speech in the Commons to call for a referendum to stop the membership.

He tweeted this morning: “ECHR membership is a Tory leadership issue because Reform are a force. The difference is we want to leave and they just pretend.”

Conservative leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat has denied that his suggestion that he would be prepared to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is political opportunism.

“No, I’ve been very, very clear I am prepared to make any decision that will keep the British people safe,” he told GB News when questioned about his change of tone on the issue.

“I am prepared to leave the ECHR, or indeed any other institution that doesn’t serve the interests of the British people.”

Mr Tugendhat talked up his experience as former security minister and in the armed forces, saying he has a “track record of delivery” for the British people.

With Tories starting to throw their hat in the ring, others, have decided to not run at the race.

Victoria Atkins announces she will not stand for the Tory leadership and claimed it was never her intention to put her name forward.

The former health secretary had previously left the door open for a leadership bid in the run-up to the General Election.

Ms Atkins, who held her Louth and Horncastle seat with a reduced majority, had been discussed as a contender from the more moderate wing of the party.

She was reportedly talked up by former deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, in a leaked recording from December, as a “star” capable of leading the Tories.

But in a Telegraph article on Wednesday night she said: “I am flattered that many people in the House and beyond have asked me to stand, but it has never been my intention to run in this contest.”

Another former contender to leave the ring was Jeremy Hunt.

Having previously run for leader in 2019 and 2022, Mr Hunt has ruled himself out of having a third go.

After surviving a scare to cling on to his Godalming and Ash seat at the General Election, the shadow chancellor told GB News the “time has passed” for a further attempt.

It comes in stark contrast to former home secretary Priti Patel who has scored -28 net rating with the public and +7 with Conservative voters.

The pair are among seven MPs understood to be entering their names into the race as nominations open today for contenders to replace Rishi Sunak. They are set to close on Monday with those getting the support of 10 other Tory MPs allowed to go forward.

Our political editor David Maddox has the full story:

Andrew Griffith has urged the future Tory leader to form a “diligent” opposition to win back votes lost to Reform UK.

He told Sky News: “It is not about Reform it is about how we get back the Conservatives that gave us their votes in 2019 and previous elections and for whatever reason did not support us at the last election.”

He said the way to win back the electorate is to make sure the party is a “diligent” opposition.

The shadow science secretary added: “There is lots of significant challenges and the road back is going to be hard and require a lot of discipline. You control what you can control.”

Shadow science secretary Andrew Griffith has confirmed he will not run in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as the next Conservative leader.

He told Sky News: “Anyone would fancy it, but I am not standing.”

Mr Griffith added: “We have got a good bench, I’d like to see that develop over the next few days. it is a really important job and we have a big piece of work to do to demonstrate trust and competence.

“There is a debate about policy but I think above all else it is about how we demonstrate as a Conservative Party what we stand for and how we can deliver it competently.

“That starts with being a good leader of the opposition.”

The Tory leadership contender has posted a video launching his bid to become the next party leader.

In the clip, he admitted “where we failed” and vowed to rebuild the trust lost during 14 years of Tory administration.

He said: “We said we’d cut taxes and they went up. We said we’d cut immigration, it went up. We let people down. We lost their trust.

“We fought among ourselves, instead of delivering for the British people.

“We forgot leadership is about fixing the problems people actually care about. I will end the infighting, rebuild the trust and deliver for you. I want to lead the Conservative party and make us ready for government in five years time.

Mr Tugendhat then promised voters that a future Conservative government will be straight with the public, adding: “We will say what we mean and we will do what we say.”

The battle for the future of the Conservative Party officially began on Wednesday night with the opening of nominations in the contest to replace Rishi Sunak following the Tories’ worst general election result.

A long and potentially divisive campaign will eventually produce a winner on November 2.

The first to launch his leadership campaign was James Cleverly, joined by Tom Tugendhat.

With just a few days until nominations close, we could see more Tory MPs confirming their bids today. They have until 2.30pm on Monday and contenders need a proposer, seconder and eight other backers to stand.

The parliamentary party will then narrow the field down to four, who will make their case at the Conservative Party Conference, which runs from September 29 to October 2.

Tom Tugendhat has refused to say whether the Rwanda deportation scheme was wrong.

Asked the question on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Tugendhat said he was “not going to be laying out policies in that specific way, what I am going to be talking about is Conservative values”.

Pressed on where the Tories had got wrong with their policies, he replied: “What went wrong is we failed to deliver.”