{"id":146170,"date":"2024-10-02T13:19:28","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T13:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/02\/conservative-leadership-hopefuls-vow-change-to-win-again\/"},"modified":"2024-10-02T13:19:28","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T13:19:28","slug":"conservative-leadership-hopefuls-vow-change-to-win-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/02\/conservative-leadership-hopefuls-vow-change-to-win-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservative leadership hopefuls vow change to win again"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The four Tory leadership candidates made speeches in Birmingham<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The four Conservative leadership hopefuls have set out their visions for reforming the party after its historic defeat in the general election this year.<\/p>\n

Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch tried to woo members in speeches to their party\u2019s conference in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

Cleverly said the party needed to be \u201cmore normal\u201d to win back voters who deserted them for Reform UK.<\/p>\n

Tugendhat pledged a \u201cnew Conservative revolution\u201d that focused on delivering better public services.<\/p>\n

Jenrick called for a \u201cnew Conservative Party\u201d and promised \u201can effective freeze in net migration\u201d, while Badenoch said she would \u201creprogramme the British state\u201d based on \u201crenewed Conservative principles\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Tory leadership contest has dominated the conference as the party seeks to recover from its worst-ever performance at a general election in July.<\/p>\n

In a break with tradition, the four candidates closed the conference with their speeches to the party faithful, rather than outgoing Conservative leader Rishi Sunak.<\/p>\n

After being grilled by delegates and the media for days, the four would-be leaders will be whittled down to two in a vote by Tory MPs next week.<\/p>\n

Conservative members will then pick the new leader from the final two in a final vote, with the result announced on 2 November.<\/p>\n

In their speeches, each candidate attacked Prime Minister Keir Starmer and said their party could win the next general election under their leadership, but not without changing its direction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Tom Tugendhat spoke about his experience in the military<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Tugendhat, who was up first on the conference stage, said there had not been enough \u201csubstance\u201d in the Tory leadership campaign.<\/p>\n

A former security minister, he talked up his experience in the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and how that would make him an effective leader.<\/p>\n

He made a direct appeal to voters who abandoned the Tories for Reform, Labour and the Liberal Democrats.<\/p>\n

The truth was, he said, many who shared Conservative values did not vote for them.<\/p>\n

He said the Tories needed to “focus on what the British people need and be absolutely ruthless about delivering it, from health care and immigration to security and education”.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a new Conservative revolution,\u201d he added. \u201cThat’s what Margaret Thatcher did. That’s what we must do again, and we can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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James Cleverly said his party should copy former US President Ronald Reagan<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Cleverly opened his speech by saying \u201csorry\u201d to Conservative activists for the result of the general election, on behalf of Tory MPs.<\/p>\n

But in an upbeat speech peppered with jokes, the former home and foreign secretary said he knew from his past life in business what it felt like to fail and get back up again.<\/p>\n

He said his political hero was former Republican US President Ronald Reagan and suggested the Conservative Party should follow his example.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be enthusiastic, relatable, positive, optimistic,\u201d Cleverly said. \u201cLet\u2019s be more normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Reform UK was just a \u201cpale imitation\u201d of his party and stressed there would be \u201cno mergers, no deals\u201d.<\/p>\n

And to enthusiastic applause, he called for the abolition of \u201cbad taxes like stamp duty\u201d and more housebuilding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Robert Jenrick has focused his pitch on his plan to slash immigration<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Jenrick – the bookies\u2019 favourite to win – said he would rebuild \u201ca new Conservative party\u201d, an echo of New Labour in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

The former immigration minister admitted the last Conservative government \u201cfailed to deliver the strong NHS, the strong economy and, yes, the strong border we promised\u201d.<\/p>\n

In language used by Reform UK MPs, Jenrick outlined five changes the party must make to challenge Labour, including “securing our borders\u201d and \u201cdefending our culture\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said he would introduce \u201can effective freeze in net migration\u201d and leave the European Convention on Human Rights, an international treaty.<\/p>\n

Jenrick, who voted to remain in the 2016 EU referendum, promised a British Bill of Rights to \u201cfinish the job\u201d begun by Brexit, and an increase in defence spending, funded by cutting overseas aid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kemi Badenoch promised sweeping refoms to the British state<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Last to speak was Badenoch, who pledged a \u201creboot\u201d of the British state as she attacked what she branded \u201cagressive identity politics\u201d and \u201csocialism\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking about her upbringing in Nigeria, Badenoch said she valued \u201cConservative freedoms\u201d and had \u201cseen what happens when a country loses sight of those principles\u201d.<\/p>\n

The former business secretary argued that the UK\u2019s system of government was \u201cbroken\u201d and her party needed to go back to \u201cfirst principles\u201d to fix it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I become leader, we will immediately begin a once in a generation undertaking,\u201d she said, promising a \u201ccomprehensive plan to reprogramme the British state\u201d.<\/p>\n

Her plan, she said, would focus on reforming international agreements, human rights laws, the Treasury, the Bank of England, the civil service and NHS.<\/p>\n

She said her campaign was about \u201crenewal\u201d in time for the next general election, adding: \u201cWe have it in our power to make the 2030s a golden decade.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Reuters The four Tory leadership candidates made speeches in Birmingham The four Conservative leadership hopefuls have set out their visions for reforming the party after its historic defeat in the general election this year. Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch tried to woo members in speeches to their party\u2019s conference in Birmingham. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[487,9450,94021,2122,20725,1460],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146170"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146170"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146172,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146170\/revisions\/146172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}