Rob Butler, Theodora Clarke, Chris Clarkson, and James Daley were the MPs for Aylesbury, Stafford, Heywood and Middleton, and Bury North respectively from 2019 to 2024.Â
We lost last month because we were seen as divided and incompetent. The defeat on July 4th was the largest our party has ever known. We all felt the pain of rejection from the British electorate. We see the public were tired of our constant bickering and fighting. We know that due to our failure to deliver we left office with just a 12 per cent approval rating.
But there is one upside to the scale of the defeat. It is clear that the Conservative Party urgently needs to unite and change. We all represented different types of seats, but we all share a desire for our party to win again.
These ideas of unity and change are becoming a theme that leadership contenders are now moving toward. But we need to accept that unity cannot come at the expense of truth. We need a leader who puts the need for honest debate – sometimes bracing debate – at the heart of who they are. It is only after such debate that we can unite and ask the British public to trust us again.
This was not a run-of-the-mill defeat. It was a warning our 200-year-old party was on the edge of a precipice. Fake unity based on platitudes and a refusal to accept reality will not last a year, let alone a parliament. We need someone who stood up for change and renewal in the past. That’s why, from all parts of the party, we support Kemi Badenoch as leader.
Badenoch has a fresh, original, and authentic voice that can communicate beyond the Westminster bubble to the communities we represented. She was the first minister we saw who dared to identify and push back on a new type of left-wing politics based on rising regulation and quangos, divisive identity politics, and extreme environmentalism.
She knew that the risk of talking down the common-sense beliefs of ordinary voters, in favour of increasing government control, was a mistake. She has the determination, conviction, and principles to articulate the truth about the problems we face – and to lead us to the solutions.
Ultimately, we will need someone with the strength and qualities who can take the fight to the other opposition parties. But we will only be able to do that if we create a version of modern Conservatism worth fighting for. We need a leader who can set out our vision in a positive way, unite us around core values, turn those values into modern policies, and then deliver victory at a general election.
The Labour’s listless landslide is one that we can overturn. They got fewer votes in 2024 than it did in 2019. And while Reform is a real threat, they are overwhelmingly focused on immigration. Controlling immigration is a necessary, but not sufficient, piece to build a wider conservative vision.
In other previous contests, we all backed other candidates, but now we agree it has to be Badenoch. She served loyally, and now we must be honest about the problems and unite behind her to solve them. We are excited to hear her platform as she sets it out in this contest.
