Newark MP Robert Jenrick says he brings change and will unite the Conservative Party as he prepares to officially launch his Tory leadership campaign to succeed Rishi Sunak
Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick has said the country and the Conservative Party are “in need of change”.
After throwing his hat into the ring to succeed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as leader of his party last week, the Newark MP will officially launch his leadership campaign at 5pm tomorrow evening (Friday, August 2).
Ahead of the launch, Mr Jenrick has been active on social media outlining his vision for the future, with posts attracting hundreds of comments and thousands of views.
In a recent video, he spoke of the need to ‘talk honestly about the state of the country’ and the issues it faces, including a fall in economic growth, lack of jobs and struggling services.
“The hard truth is that we [The Conservatives] lost this election because we failed to tackle these challenges,” he said in the video.
“The even harder truth is that the severity of these challenges now threatens our future.”
He said the country’s economy needed to grow faster, more homes needed to be built, defence must to be strengthened, and cheap energy produced more reliably, as well as creating what he called a “small state that works, not a big one that fails.”
Mr Jenrick — who resigned as Immigration Minister over the government’s handling of the controversial Rwanda policy — also said a new approach was needed to tackle illegal and mass migration to the UK.
Appealing to Tory party members, he said he would bring unity and change to the party to win back the trust of the public.
“Our party [The Conservatives] needs to change. A lot. But we need to change in keeping with our best traditions and our values,” he said.
“Those values include moderation, generosity of spirit, respect for institutions, and one another. A desire for national unity, not division.
“We lost support in part because we stopped upholding these values.”
He added: “I will unite us around the actual solutions to the challenges we face. That’s why I am standing to be leader of our party.”
The Newark MP is one of six Tories to announce their candidacy for the Conservative leadership. He is joined by the former Home Secretary James Cleverly, former Home Secretary Priti Patel, former Security Minister Tom Tugendhat, former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride, and Kemi Badenoch, who ran for the party leadership in 2022 after Boris Johnson resigned.
The next leader will be elected by party members in November, with the the list of candidates narrowed down by fellow MPs over the next three months.
