The Guardian

Tory leadership candidates in key face-off at party conference – UK politics live

Tory leadership candidates in key face-off at party conference – UK politics live



Jenrick, Cleverly, Badenoch and Tugendhat to all get 20 minutes to pitch their vision to membersSome Tories at the conference have been calling for closer links with Reform UK.In an interview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, insisted he was not interested. He said:There would be no deal with them, I wouldn’t trust them anyway, they have a pattern of behaviour pretending to be one thing and then when they’re in government being quite the opposite.And, frankly, what I’m trying to do with Reform is replace them.They all think with a new leader ‘it’ll all be fine, all the voters will come back to us’, and what they don’t understand is the Conservative brand is completely damaged, they have no chance of winning the next election.Do I think getting back our independence was the right thing to do? You bet your life.Do I think we’ve handled it well? Good Lord, no.The truth is this. If we’re to tackle the immense challenges we face, if we’re to restore the public’s trust, we must build something new.A new Conservative party. That is what I call for today. Nothing less than a new Conservative party built on the rock of our oldest values and best traditions. If I become our leader, this is what – together – we will build.The Conservatives have to be the party of wealth creation. Wealth is not a dirty word. It supports jobs and families. It pays for our schools, for our health service. We should encourage it.Let’s be enthusiastic; relatable; positive; optimistic.Let’s sell the benefits of a Conservative government with a smile. We will not win back voters by pretending to be something we’re not. We win back voters by being honest, by being professional, by being Conservative. Continue reading…



Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/oct/02/tory-party-conference-jenrick-badenoch-cleverly-tugendhat-starmer-brussels-uk-politics-news-latest

Author : Andrew Sparrow

Publish date : 2024-10-02 08:21:20

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