Fresh from its worst defeat in a century, the Conservative Party met in Birmingham to hear from the Final Four candidates to be its sixth leader in eight years.
Read all about it in this week’s Who’s Top Who’s Not!
Top: James Cleverly
At the Tory Party Conference held in sunny Birmingham this week, James Cleverly received the biggest standing ovation from the audience of Tory members after his stirring speech in which he affirmed that “now is not the time for an apprentice” and that his ability to make tough decisions makes him the best contender for leader. He promised to sell “conservatism with a smile” and highlighted his professional achievements and experience.
Amid the chaos of it all, Cleverly offered a hint of statesmanship by beginning his speech with an apology and imploring his party to “be more normal”. He opted to take to the lectern rather than awkwardly wandering across the stage like his competitors in a bid to project a sense of authority which played to his strengths.
Momentum is certainly with him, but will that be enough once he gets back to Westminster next week? Cleverley is likely to take enough of Mel Stride’s votes from the previous round to eliminate Tom Tugendhat, but the key thing to look out for is if he can peel away some wavering Tory MPs from Kemi Badenoch to make the Top Two.
Middle: Robert Jenrick
Throughout the conference, the buzz surrounding Jenrick resembled a leader in waiting. Corridors were cleared and he was followed by a sizable entourage wherever he went. It also seems that he is considered the likely successor by some in the party hierarchy because he was promptly moved to Rishi Sunak’s suite in the Hyatt following the ex-PM's departure. The Guardian reported that the party insisted this was less to do with the presumption of victory and more because his original room had been situated next to Badenoch’s, and the two groups could hear each other through the walls. WTWN isn’t convinced.
Despite the bells and whistles, Jenrick’s speech did not live up to expectations. In his speech he vowed to end illegal migration and reiterated his plea for Britain to leave the European Convention of Human Rights. Jenrick had clearly learnt his speech by heart, but he struggled to come across as authentic and was at times a little repetitive.
Still, Jenrick’s large support amongst Conservative MPs should be enough to see him into the final two. Then we shall see if the Tory membership buy, and like, his damascene conversion to the Tory right-wing.
Bottom: Kemi Badenoch
Kemi takes the bottom spot this week. Despite starting the Tory leadership contest as the clear front-runner, she has since come into difficulty and her story reminds WTWN of the hare and the tortoise.
She displayed trepidation during her speech and presented herself as the only candidate who would be willing to fight Labour against the polarising trend of identity politics. She criticised the last government for not defending capitalism strongly enough and noted that the party had “stopped acting like Conservatives”.
However, despite a confident persona Badenoch proved that being the candidate who would ‘say the unsayable’ is not always a good thing – sometimes it’s unsayable for a reason!
Her speech was tainted by the controversy over claims that statutory maternity pay is “excessive” and that she is tired of all cultures being “treated equally”. Badenoch may have captured the attention of the press – an important quality in a Leader of the Opposition – but the political skill is in choosing the right fights to fight, at the right time.