Nottinghamshire County Council leader, the Mansfield MP Ben Bradley, confirms backs local government minister Kemi Badenoch for Prime Minister

Nottinghamshire County Council leader, the Mansfield MP Ben Bradley has confirmed he is backing the minister who announced the government is ‘minded’ to intervene at Nottingham City Council as the next Prime Minister and leader of the party.

The Conservative MP announced over the weekend he is backing former equalities and local government minister Kemi Badenoch for the top job.

Mrs Badenoch, the Conservative MP for Saffron Walden, resigned from her role in the levelling up department last week alongside dozens of government colleagues amid concerns over Boris Johnson’s leadership.

She has since thrown her hat into the ring to become the next leader of the Conservative Party and has already received the backing of several high-profile Tories — including her former Levelling Up boss Michael Gove.

Mr Bradley describes Mrs Badenoch as incredibly strong and brave on some really difficult issues and believes she would offer unimpeachable integrity as Prime Minister.

He also says her experience within the Levelling Up department, which oversees local leaders’ ongoing negotiations for a devolution deal, would provide benefits to the wider East Midlands.

Mr Bradley, who lives in Newark, said: “Kemi has been a local government minister, which is really important to me obviously because I’m the leader of the council.

“We’ve been working on so many projects for a long time, not least our devolution work and trying to bring more powers and funding to our area.

“Kemi backs that, she’s been a local government minister most recently and we got a really generous settlement from her and her department in November.

“I know she gets these issues; she understands the issue around funding social care as we’ve had those conversations directly.

“I’m confident that, if she becomes Prime Minister, we’d get that continuity to deliver on those priorities we’ve been working on.”

Former chancellor Rishi Sunak, who has the backing of Nottinghamshire MPs Mark Spencer, Robert Jenrick and Ruth Edwards, is currently the bookies’ favourite to win the contest.

He will battle his successor Nadhim Zahawi, former health secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt, current transport secretary Grant Shapps and current foreign secretary Liz Truss — who is supported by Broxtowe MP Darren Henry.

Trade minister Penny Mordaunt, attorney general Suella Braverman and backbench MPs Tom Tugendhat and Rehman Chishti are also in the running.

Senior Tories confirmed on Monday evening the longlist should be narrowed down to two candidates by the end of the week before about 160,000 Conservative Party members vote to elect the new leader over the summer.

The leadership contest is then expected to conclude on September 5 when the United Kingdom will have a new Prime Minister.