LONDON (Reuters) – Former British foreign minister James Cleverly said on Tuesday he was running to become leader of the Conservative Party, which lost power to Keir Starmer’s Labour Party at an election earlier this month after 14 years in government.
The party said on Monday it would name its new leader on Nov. 2, after the party’s worst-ever election performance prompted former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to say he would stand down.
Cleverly, a former Conservative Party chairman who was most recently interior minister, is the first person to officially confirm they will stand in the contest.
“The last election showed us that we had lost the trust of voters. They questioned our motives, our ability, and our commitment to delivering for them. That must change,” Cleverly wrote in an article for the Telegraph newspaper.
“It starts with choosing the right leader and then backing and supporting them fully, whoever it is. I am putting myself forward to be that leader because I can unite the Conservative Party and overturn Starmer’s loveless landslide.”
Cleverly, who has been a member of parliament since 2015, previously put himself forward for the leadership in 2019, when former prime minister Theresa May stepped down, but was the first candidate to drop out of the race.
(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
