WATCH: Former Cabinet minister says she could run to be next Conservative leader
2 min read
Former Cabinet minister Justine Greening has revealed that she could run to be the next Conservative party leader.
The former Education Secretary said “things need to change” and admitted that she could succeed Theresa May on a platform that Britain can be a “country that runs differently and more fairly”.
Ms Greening quit the frontbench earlier this year after she rejected the Prime Minister's attempt to move her to the Department for Work and Pensions.
She has since become a vocal proponent of a second Brexit referendum.
Speaking just hours before Philip Hammond’s Budget, the Putney MP said the Tories needed to have the same ambition on reducing inequalities as past governments had on setting up the NHS.
The ex-minister added that she was committed to helping create “a guarantee for opportunity in this country in the same way we try to give guarantees on health and guarantees on dignity if people are falling out of work”.
When it was suggested that her comments sounded like a leadership bid, Ms Greening responded: “Well things need to change don’t they and people need to have some hope for the future that Britain can be a country that runs differently and more fairly than it does at the moment.”
When further pressed on whether she would put her case forward were there a vacancy in Number 10, she added: “I might be prepared to.”
She continued: “The talent is spread evenly, the challenge with Britain is that opportunity isn’t and that’s what we’ve got fix.”
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
