Conservatives have suggested that the former home secretary Suella Braverman is losing support as a potential party leader, as some who lost votes across southern England privately urged colleagues to resist a lurch to the right.
A number of MPs now see Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel and Kemi Badenoch, all of whom have ruled out a deal with the hard-right Reform leader Nigel Farage, as more viable candidates.
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Strategists for a number of candidates are analysing the records of the 121 remaining MPs. “It’s not a Faragist party,” said one. “Anyone who pursues that will lose.”
Another senior Tory said: “It must be more than banging on about immigration. Labour’s weak spot is delivering on their promise of growth. That is going to become a big debate in British politics.”
One former MP said: “There are no more Conservative MPs in Oxfordshire. That is not because we were not similar enough to Nigel Farage. It is because we were incompetent.”
The former justice secretary Robert Buckland, who lost his seat on Friday, warned the party not to flirt with Reform. “Letting in Farage is like letting a fox into the henhouse. He is a French poujadiste, not a British Conservative,” he said.
She never had much to begin with.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Conservatives have suggested that the former home secretary Suella Braverman is losing support as a potential party leader, as some who lost votes across southern England privately urged colleagues to resist a lurch to the right.
A number of MPs now see Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel and Kemi Badenoch, all of whom have ruled out a deal with the hard-right Reform leader Nigel Farage, as more viable candidates.
The Conservative party board is expected to meet on Monday to begin to draw up plans for a leadership contest to replace Rishi Sunak after the Tories’ devastating general election defeat.
Three potential leadership candidates appeared to discuss the postmortem in the Sunday papers and TV shows: Braverman, Jenrick, the former immigration minister, and Victoria Atkins, the former health secretary.
Patel, also a former home secretary, and Tugendhat are understood to believe they can reach across the party and appeal to both those who were denied their seats by Reform and those who were run close by the Liberal Democrats.
MPs have issued strong warnings internally about rumours that members could be cut out of a vote in leadership contest, saying it would drive hundreds of councillors and activists to defect to Reform.
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