Tory MPs Pressured To Declare Leadership Bids By Next Week
Kemi Badenoch is the frontrunner to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader (Alamy)
3 min read
Conservative MPs are likely to have to declare their bids to become party leader by the end of next week and fight the contest over Parliament's summer recess.
The 1922 Committee, which represents Conservative backbenchers, is aiming to set out an official timetable to replace Rishi Sunak over the next 48 hours.
Senior Tories are leaning towards a process which will require candidates to officially declare their bids by Friday 26 July — a few days before MPs return to their constituencies for a few weeks.
The frontrunners to replace Sunak are Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat, Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel, and James Cleverly — who all have Cabinet experience.
Under the plans being discussed, multiple candidates will campaign over the summer before the field is whittled down by Tory MPs in September, prior to Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. The conference will take place between 29 September and 2 October.
One Tory MP said there is hope that this approach will prevent the two favourite candidates from "taking chunks out of one another" over the summer months.
The final two candidates would then debate each other at events in Birmingham before members vote on their preferred candidate. Holding debates at Tory conference will likely attract more members to the event, increasing attendance and boosting the party’s financial situation — which has taken a hit as a result of the Tory election defeat.
A senior Tory said removing the final say from the members, as called for by some Conservatives, was not a “serious” position.
One shadow Cabinet minister told PoliticsHome this timetable, if confirmed, would make Sunak more likely will remain as leader without needing an interim.
An ally of the former prime minister told PoliticsHome he would wait wait before the timeline is confirmed before speaking to the 1922 Committee about his next steps. They said while Sunak wanted to do “what’s best for the party”, he did not feel able to make decision until the details of the contest had been finalised.
One Tory MP said they’d be surprised if Sunak remained in post until the autumn. They said he seemed “shell shocked” after the party's crushing election defeat.
Another Conservative MP believed Sunak did not “want to remain leader anymore”, but would "just about hold on" in post until his successor is decided.
At the same time changes to how the 1922 Committee, which set out rules for party leadership contests, are currently being considered by its members.
There are usually 18 executive members on the Committee, which is 15 per cent of the current parliamentary Tory party. This number remained at 18 following the general elections of 1997 and 20021, when the Conservatives had fewer than 200 MPs.
Bob Blackman, the new chair of the 1922 Committee, has been given advice that this number should stay at 18. But he was told it could be whittled down to 12 without needing to replace new members because of how small the parliamentary party is.
To remove a leader 15 per cent of Tory MPs will need to trigger a contest. One 1922 figure has privately claimed that the low figure is "nonsense" and should be reassessed now that the parliamentary Conservative party has been reduced so significantly.
The Tories have 121 MPs, down from 251, after they suffered their worst ever general election result earlier this month.
Shadow ministers ministers will be able to visit the ’22 meetings but the new leader will not be able to. This was the same as when the Tories were last in opposition prior to 2010.
Additional reporting from Adam Payne.
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