Who will be the next leader of the Conservative Party?
After the worst-ever Conservative election defeat, the race for Rishi Sunak’s successor is underway.
The race to become the next leader of the Conservative party is underway.
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced he would step down as party leader after Labour secured a landslide victory in the general election on 4 July.
The change in party leadership would not take place immediately, Sunak said, but once formal arrangements for selecting his successor were in place.
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The new leader of the opposition will be appointed on 2 November. Six candidates have thrown their hat in the ring.
Candidates need to secure the backing of 10 MPs and raise £200,000 to enter the first round of voting.
We introduce the Conservative MPs who have confirmed they are running, and look at their odds of success.
Who are the confirmed Tory leadership candidates?
Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly, Priti Patel and Mel Stride have all launched bids to become the next leader of the opposition.
Suella Braverman, the former home secretary and MP for Fareham and Waterlooville, has said she will not be running.
In a piece written for The Telegraph over the weekend, Braverman said she had been “branded mad, bad and dangerous by [her] own party” and that the party did not want to hear the “truths” she had set out.
As a result, she said she would “bow out” of the leadership contest.
Kemi Badenoch, former business and trade secretary and MP for North West Essex, is currently the bookies’ favourite, followed by Newark MP Robert Jenrick. Both are expected to appeal to the right of the Conservative party.
Kemi Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch is shadow housing minister and MP for North West Essex.
Badenoch held cabinet positions under the previous Conservative government, serving most recently as business and trade secretary (February 2023 to July 2024).
She launched her campaign over the weekend, writing in The Times that the Conservatives lost the last election because of a loss of party identity. “We deserved to lose because the past decade saw us twist and turn in the wind, unsure of who we were,” she added.
Going forward, Badenoch said the party should focus on “do[ing] some things well, not everything badly”. If she is selected as the next party leader, Badenoch plans to focus on “renewing our party for 2030 – the first full year we can be back in government”.
She suggested she would focus on British sovereignty and building a nation state which “serve[s] its own citizens”. She also criticised the way capitalism has been turned into a “dirty word”.
Some see Badenoch as being more right-leaning within the party. She was a Brexiteer and has divided opinion on topics like transgender rights.
Sky Bet currently has Badenoch’s odds of winning the leadership contest at 15/8.
Robert Jenrick
Robert Jenrick is MP for Newark. He served as immigration minister under the Sunak government, but resigned in December 2023 after saying the government’s Rwanda asylum legislation did not go far enough.
The Conservative government wanted to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda to have their claims considered there, arguing it is a safe country. Jenrick had called for “stronger protections” against legal challenges to the scheme.
In his bid for party leadership, Jenrick has said he would be willing to leave the European Convention on Human Rights – a big dividing line within the Conservative party.
This could be seen as a bid to win round the right of the party, after the European Court of Human Rights intervened in UK immigration measures in June 2022 and prevented a Rwanda flight from taking off.
Speaking in Essex over the weekend, Jenrick told party members that he would work to win back voters who had defected to Reform UK, but added that he would not make a deal with Reform leader Nigel Farage.
Sky Bet currently has Jenrick’s odds of winning the leadership contest at 5/2.
Tom Tugendhat
Tom Tugendhat is MP for Tonbridge and former security minister.
Before entering politics, Tugendhat served as an army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is seen by many as being a centrist, one nation Conservative.
The Tory leadership hopeful is known for being a China hawk, and has previously argued that China should be formally designated as a national security threat.
He has also argued that the UK tax burden is too high, and that the previous government should have invested more in defence.
His stance on the European Convention of Human Rights is more uncertain than others in the party. Previously a staunch defender of the convention, Tugendhat recently said he would be prepared to leave it if necessary.
Sky Bet currently has Tugendhat’s odds of winning the leadership contest at 9/2.
James Cleverly
James Cleverly is MP for Braintree in Essex and former home secretary.
He has also served in cabinet roles as foreign secretary and education secretary, as well as in the London Assembly (first as a member and then as party leader).
Cleverly said the Conservatives wasted too much time fighting among themselves before the 4 July general election, and has urged unity and discipline going forward.
In a piece for The Telegraph, Cleverly said the country needs to “rediscover a national sense of purpose and self-reliance, centred on a British economic dream of aspiration”.
He favours “lower taxes, with a smaller state”, arguing that supporting businesses will help grow the economy.
Sky Bet currently has Cleverly’s odds of winning the leadership contest at 11/2.
Priti Patel
Priti Patel is MP for Witham. She served as home secretary from July 2019 to September 2022. While serving in this role, Patel divided opinion with her hardline stance on immigration and her Rwanda asylum policy.
Launching her leadership bid with a piece in The Telegraph, Patel said that the Conservative party needs to unite. “We should reflect honestly on what went wrong but avoid spending the coming weeks – let alone months and years – in a soap opera of finger-pointing and self-indulgence,” she added.
Going forward, Patel said the Conservatives need to show people that they will “let them spend more of their own money and give them a stake in society, so that they can buy a house, have job security and feel comfortable enough to start a family or a business”.
She added that the “backdrop that makes everything else possible is law and order”. While serving as home secretary, Patel gave the police greater powers for stop and search and called for longer sentences for criminals who attack police officers.
Patel is no stranger to political controversy, and faced allegations of bullying across several government departments, including the Home Office. A 2020 Cabinet Office inquiry found she had “unintentionally” breached ministerial code in her treatment of civil servants.
Sky Bet currently has Patel’s odds of winning the leadership contest at 10/1.
Mel Stride
Mel Stride is MP for Central Devon. He served as secretary for work and pensions between October 2022 and July 2024.
Stride was a close ally of Sunak and was front and centre on the campaign trail in the lead-up to the general election, giving frequent media interviews. He came close to losing his seat during the election, hanging onto it by just 61 votes.
Stride has said the Conservative party needs to unite going forward, and that he is the right man for the job. He told The Telegraph that labelling different factions of the party is “unhelpful”, adding: “fundamentally we are all Conservatives”.
He also said that building a detailed agenda for the 2029 election was not the party’s most pressing priority right now. First, it needs to focus on the local elections next year, he said.
Sky Bet currently has Stride’s odds of winning the leadership contest at 25/1.
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Katie has a background in investment writing and is interested in everything to do with personal finance, politics, and investing. She previously worked at MoneyWeek and Invesco.