Tory leadership race – live: We must ‘persuade’ Sunak to stay on until November, says shadow foreign secretary

The race to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader in the wake of the Conservative Party’s wipeout at the general election has been underway for 10 days.

Ex-deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell has urged the Tory party to avoid an interim leader, saying the best option “is to seek to persuade Rishi to remain” until mid to end of November.

He said that the former prime minister’s instinct will be ‘almost certainly to go’ but that the 1922 Committee meeting showed ‘widespread feelings of sympathy and respect for Rishi Sunak.’

While no candidate has yet formally launched a bid, Suella Braverman’s hopes were dealt an early blow, as one source described the twice-sacked home secretary’s campaign to The Times as “dead before it even started”, accusing her of “going too hard, too soon”.

Other possible Tory leadership race contenders on the party’s right include Kemi Badenoch and Priti Patel, while James Cleverly, Jeremy Hunt, Tom Tugendhat and Victoria Atkins are among more moderate figures who could launch bids.

Key Points

• Rishi Sunak should stay as Tory leader until November, Andrew Mitchell says

• Suella Braverman’s Tory leadership bid ‘dead before it starts’

• Contest could drag on until end of the year, ex-minister says

• Runners and riders: Who will vie to replace Rishi Sunak?

Tory treasurer who gave party £5m quits role days after election defeat

14:37 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Sir Mohamed Mansour, the senior treasurer of the Conservative Party, announced on Saturday he was resigning from his post 10 days after Rishi Sunak’s election defeat.

The Egyptian-born billionaire had donated £5m to the party and had been a key player in raising other funds. His donation was the biggest for the Conservatives since 2001.

He told The Independent: “I have been honoured to serve my country and party since December 2022 and it has been a privilege to do so.”

Tory treasurer who gave party £5m quits role days after election defeat

Who will be the next Tory leader? All the front runners ranked, from Priti Patel to Suella Braverman

13:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Conservatives face a leadership contest after a disastrous election result which saw Labour win by a landslide.

But the party has lost a string of senior names who had been expected to stand – including former cabinet ministers Penny Mordaunt and Grant Shapps.

Here we look at some of the remaining runners and riders:

Who will be the next Tory leader? The Tory frontrunners from Patel to Braverman

Top Tory calls for Rishi Sunak to stay as party leader until November as succession battle looms

12:32 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A senior Tory MP has called for Rishi Sunak to stay as Conservative leader until the end of November as the battle to replace him takes shape.

Shadow foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell said it is important to “run the contest long” to ensure leadership candidates “come under scrutiny both by their colleagues and by the party generally, and by the public”.

And he suggested the leadership election should be launched at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham at the end of September.

Top Tory calls for Rishi Sunak to stay until November as leadership battle looms

Tory grandee urges against lurch to extreme right in leadership battle

11:26 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Conservative Party needs to avoid a lurch to the “extreme right” as it tries to rebuild itself from its worst ever defeat, a former party chairman has warned.

Lord Chris Patten, who was chairman for the successful 1992 general election campaign where he also lost his seat, has raised concerns that the Tories will try to ape Nigel Farage as it seeks to win back supporters.

Writing for The Independent, the Tory grandee, who was also Britain’s last governor of Hong Kong, labelled two of the potential contenders Priti Patel and Suella Braverman as “extreme right” and described Farage as “Tommy Robinson in a cravat” as he urged for the party to take time over resetting itself.

Tory grandee urges against lurch to extreme right in leadership battle

Rishi Sunak should stay as Tory leader until November, Andrew Mitchell says

10:46 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A senior Tory has urged Rishi Sunak to stay on as party leader until November amid divisions in the party over how long the contest to replace him should take.

Shadow foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell said he understood Mr Sunak’s “possible reticence” but spoke out against the idea of having an interim leader and argued “we should play it long”.

He said the Conservatives should “adopt a modest profile” in the wake of its drubbing in the General Election and use the party conference, starting on September 29, for a “showcasing” of contenders.

Rishi Sunak should stay as Tory leader until November, Andrew Mitchell says

Watch: Suella Braverman refuses to say if she'll be next Tory leader

Saturday 13 July 2024 06:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Suella Braverman blasts Kemi Badenoch as Tories ignore calls for unity

Saturday 13 July 2024 04:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Two of the frontrunners in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader have attacked each other, as infighting within the party deepens.

Just hours after ex-home secretaryJames Cleverly called for party unity, Suella Bravermanblasted her critics and claimed they were in “meltdown”.

She also named her rival Kemi Badenoch, tweeting: “I’d be interested in knowing whether Kemi thinks I’m having a ‘very public nervous breakdown’.”

Suella Braverman blasts Kemi Badenoch as Tories ignore calls for unity

Jacob Rees-Mogg starts filming new reality TV show following general election defeat

Saturday 13 July 2024 02:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Former Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg is reportedly filming a new a fly-on-the-wall reality TV series following his general election defeat

The Discovery+ series, said to be titled Meet The Moggs, will follow the former minister in his 17th-century country home and star his wife Helena and their six children.

The former MP for North East Somerset was among a number of Tory “big beasts” to have lost their seat last week, with filming thought to have captured his efforts on the campaign trail via the production company Optomen.

Jacob Rees-Mogg starts filming new reality TV show following general election defeat

The real reason Rishi Sunak held his disastrous snap election

Saturday 13 July 2024 00:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The prospect of hundreds of thousands of voters suffering a steep rise in their mortgage bills drove Rishi Sunak’s decision to call a snap general election.

The former prime minister feared the wrath of homeowners forced to pay an average of £240 more a month.

Households would have to pay even more eye-watering sums in many of the so-called “blue wall” Conservative seats in the south of England Mr Sunak was desperate to save.

The real reason Rishi Sunak held his disastrous snap election

Will Rishi Sunak stick around to take on Keir Starmer at PMQs?

Friday 12 July 2024 22:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

One of the many humiliations suffered by the Conservatives in the past week has been the temporary deletion of their X/Twitter account. For a short time, visitors to the party’s social media page were greeted only with the error message: “Something went wrong”. That’s an understatement, although the question remains exactly what went wrong.

Identifying a way forward could take months, if not years, but in the meantime what’s left of the parliamentary Conservative party has to form an effective opposition. In the short term, this means Rishi Sunak taking on Keir Starmer’s former role in the most brutal of job swaps…

Sean O’Grady has more...

Will Rishi Sunak stick around to take on Keir Starmer at PMQs?

Furious Tory MPs claim plot to stitch up leadership contest after 1922 vote controversy

Friday 12 July 2024 20:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

In case you missed it...

Furious Tory MPs have claimed there is a ‘plot’ to determine who replaces Rishi Sunak after controversy over the election of a new chair of the influential 1922 Committee.

Less than a week after losing the general election, the party is involved in an angry row over its internal elections.

Tensions are running high as the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs will decide the rules for the party’s next leadership contest.

Tory MPs claim plot to stitch up leadership contest after 1922 vote controversy

Suella Braverman blasts Kemi Badenoch as Tories ignore calls for unity

Friday 12 July 2024 17:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Two of the frontrunners in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader have attacked each other, as infighting within the party deepens.

Just hours after ex-home secretaryJames Cleverly called for party unity, Suella Bravermanblasted her critics and claimed they were in “meltdown”.

She also named her rival Kemi Badenoch, tweeting: “I’d be interested in knowing whether Kemi thinks I’m having a ‘very public nervous breakdown’.”

Suella Braverman blasts Kemi Badenoch as Tories ignore calls for unity

James Cleverly seeks to jokingly dispel Westminster rumour – by admitting he is a Warhammer fan

Friday 12 July 2024 16:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

James Cleverly has jokingly sought to dispel a rumour he says has been making its way around Westminster for years, by admitting he is fan of the game Warhammer.

The Conservative MP and former foreign secretary posted a selfie on X, formerly Twitter, with a freshly painted Warhammer 40k figurine much to the amusement of many social media users.

“There have been some rumours about me floating around Westminster for some time. There is no point in trying to hide this any longer. It’s true”, the Lewisham-born father-of-two and MP for Braintree in Essex wrote.

Cleverly jokingly dispels Westminster rumour – by admitting he is a Warhammer fan

Friday 12 July 2024 14:26 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A Conservative MP has criticised his own party saying the Tories deserved to lose the election.

Tory MP blasts own party and reveals biggest downfall in Question Time rant

Jenrick claims Tory candidates should only be selected by local members

Friday 12 July 2024 11:22 , Andy Gregory

Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick has insisted that, in future, parliamentary candidates should only be selected by party members – who in 2022 opted for Liz Truss – in order “to revitalise our grassroots”.

Scottish Tory leadership hopeful urges party ‘not to turn inwards'

Friday 12 July 2024 08:19 , Andy Gregory

People in Scotland care about their high utility bills and not the structure of the Scottish Tories, a potential leadership hopeful has said.

Ahead of the party’s leadership contest beginning in earnest, a potential split from the UK-wide Conservatives has been floated. The idea was initially put to members in 2011 in a failed leadership bid by by Murdo Fraser – who is said to be considering running again.

But the idea has been met with resistance, with fellow hopeful Russell Findlay, who urged the party “not to turn inwards” during the upcoming leadership election to replace Douglas Ross.

Writing in The Times – in the second such article he has written this week – Mr Findlay said: “Our job is to serve the public, providing high standards of services and giving everyone the opportunity to succeed, no matter the challenges they face.

“We must not turn inwards and spend all our time debating proposals to split the Scottish Conservatives from the UK party. People facing big bills don’t care about the party structure. They care about their mortgages, their taxes and their duty to leave the country in a good state for future generations.

“Victims failed by the court process won’t be helped by a debate about our party logo. People waiting for a GP appointment won’t be helped by us talking about what name we should call ourselves.”

Watch: Kwasi Kwarteng blames himself and Liz Truss for Tory election defeat

Thursday 11 July 2024 07:02 , Andy Gregory

Badenoch: ‘Too much nodding along’ in former government

Thursday 11 July 2024 05:40 , Andy Gregory

Kemi Badenoch has said there was “too much nodding along in the room and arguments outside it” in the previous Tory government.

The former business secretary, who is seen as a frontrunner to replace Rishi Sunak as leader of the Conservative Party, said in a post on X: “It’s a shame our discussions in Shadow Cabinet were leaked yesterday. If there is no private space to discuss our Party’s challenges, we will never fully address what the electorate told us last week.

“The views of those outside these meetings matter too. Not just backbench MPs, but our party activists, members and friends who lost seats after giving everything to the campaign.

“In government, we had too much nodding along in the room and arguments outside it. That culture needs to change. We need to be honest with one another in private, and united in the direction we take afterwards.”

Watch: Tory MP savages own party following general election defeat

Thursday 11 July 2024 03:57 , Andy Gregory

Jacob Rees-Mogg starts filming new reality TV show following general election defeat

Thursday 11 July 2024 02:05 , Andy Gregory

Former Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg is reportedly filming a new a fly-on-the-wall reality TV series following his general election defeat, my colleague Jabed Ahmed reports.

The Discovery+ series, said to be titled Meet The Moggs, will follow the former minister in his 17th-century country home and star his wife Helena and their six children.

The former MP for North East Somerset was among a number of Tory “big beasts” to have lost their seat last week, with filming thought to have captured his efforts on the campaign trail via the production company Optomen.

Jacob Rees-Mogg starts filming new reality TV show following general election defeat

Why was ‘worrying’ general election turnout so low, and will it ever recover?

Wednesday 10 July 2024 23:58 , Andy Gregory

Voter turnout is reported to have been the lowest since 2001 in last week’s UK general election, at just 59.9 per cent.

At just 0.5 points above 2001’s low of 59.4 per cent, this year’s election risked falling to a new record, and was among the lowest turnouts in a century.

From 1924 to the year 2000, turnout didn’t dip below 70 per cent. In fact, the highest turnout in the last 100 years was when 83.9 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots in 1950, when Clement Attlee’s Labour saw its majority shrink from 146 to 5.

But since the turn of the millennium, Britons have not been showing up to vote in such high numbers, and this may just be the new normal.

Our data correspondent Alicja Hagopian investigates:

Why was ‘worrying’ general election turnout so low, and will it ever recover?

Tory calls Badenoch ‘weak’ for not criticising Sunak sooner

Wednesday 10 July 2024 22:33 , Kate Devlin

Dame Andrea Jenkyns has called Kemi Badenoch “weak” for not criticising Rishi Sunak sooner, following her reported remarks in the first shadow cabinet meeting.

And Dame Andrea accused the Tory leadership hopeful of “trying to appear strong because there is a leadership election”.

Suella Braverman blasts Kemi Badenoch as Tories ignore calls for unity

Wednesday 10 July 2024 20:59 , Andy Gregory

Two of the frontrunners in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader have attacked each other, as infighting within the party deepens.

Just hours after ex-home secretary James Cleverly called for party unity, Suella Braverman blasted her critics and claimed they were in “meltdown”.

She also named her rival Kemi Badenoch, tweeting: “I’d be interested in knowing whether Kemi thinks I’m having a ‘very public nervous breakdown’.”

Ms Badenoch reportedly made the breakdown comments as the Conservative frontbench met for the first time since losing power on Tuesday.

Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin has the full report:

Suella Braverman blasts Kemi Badenoch as Tories ignore calls for unity

Watch: Suella Braverman says government buildings flying rainbow flags are ‘occupied territory’

Wednesday 10 July 2024 19:48 , Andy Gregory

Public baffled by question of their preferred new Tory leader, polling suggests

Wednesday 10 July 2024 18:29 , Andy Gregory

“Don’t know” has emerged as the clear favourite in five-way contest for the public’s favourite as next Tory leader.

Polling of more than 8,000 people by JLP Partners found that Suella Braverman topped the list of candidates given to respondents. Ten per cent said they would favour Ms Braverman, while nine per cent backed Tom Tugendhat, seven per cent Kemi Badenoch, seven per cent Priti Patel, and six Robert Jenrick.

Way out in front was the response given by 61 per cent of respondents: “Don’t know.”

Labour will hope Tory leadership race lasts as long as possible, former aide suggests

Wednesday 10 July 2024 17:07 , Andy Gregory

Labour will hope the Tory leadership race lasts as long as possible, a former adviser to Lisa Nandy has suggested.

Matthew Lavender told the BBC: “I think they probably want it to go on for as long as it can, because ultimately they’ll end up just tearing strips off each other for a long time and giving the Labour government a free run to do what they want to do in their early months.

“The danger for the Conservatives [is], if it goes on for too long, they give that space for the Labour government to define the past 14 years, in much the same way that David Cameron and George Osborne in 2010 had a lot of space and time to blame Labour for the financial crash, to shape how people saw that Labour government.

“That was something Labour really struggled to shake off for years, and I think there’s a danger for the Conservatives that Labour can do the same to them in reverse.”

Furious Tory MPs claim plot to stitch up leadership contest after 1922 vote controversy

Wednesday 10 July 2024 16:07 , Andy Gregory

Furious Tory MPs have claimed there is a “plot” to determine who replaces Rishi Sunak after controversy over the election of a new chair of the influential 1922 Committee.

Less than a week after losing the general election, the party is involved in an angry row over its internal elections. Tensions are running high as the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs will decide the rules for the party’s next leadership contest.

Shadow chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Mark Francois were among the Tory MPs turned away from voting for the chair of the committee, with the latter fuming as he left the room in Westminster: “This election was bent. I think the 1922’s level of competence has reached a new low.”

Tory MPs claim plot to stitch up leadership contest after 1922 vote controversy

Cleverly urges Tories to unite behind a ‘broad platform'

Wednesday 10 July 2024 13:26 , Andy Gregory

James Cleverly has warned against “bitter infighting” among the Tories and said his party needs to “get our act together” ahead of the race to replace Rishi Sunak as leader.

The party needs to conduct a “sensible post mortem on what went wrong and finding the right path forwards”, the shadow home secretary wrote in The Times, adding: “As we do this we must remember two vital things. Firstly, it cannot descend into bitter infighting and finger pointing. That is exactly how we ended up here.”

A narrower offer will not win back voters that have been lost to the left or right, Mr Cleverly warned, writing: “We must get our act together. We need to unite in order to deliver.

“It will take humility and hard work, to recover our reputation for competence and integrity, to rebuild trust in our party, and unite behind a broad platform that will give people a reason to vote Conservative again.”

His comments came as an MP accused the committee that sets the rules for the leadership contest of being “bent”, Suella Braverman called Reform an “existential threat” to the Tories and Kemi Badenoch reportedly used Rishi Sunak’s first shadow cabinet meeting to criticise his campaign and Ms Braverman.

Nearly half of Tory grassroots support merger with Reform UK, polling suggests

Wednesday 10 July 2024 10:54 , Andy Gregory

The Tory grassroots is split over the prospect of a merger with Reform UK – with nearly half of members in favour of joining forces with Nigel Farage’s party, polling suggests.

According to YouGov polling of 725 Tory members for the Party Members Project, 47 per cent said they were in favour of a merger with Reform, while 48 per cent were opposed, with the remaining five per cent unsure.

Outrage as Suella Braverman brands Pride flag flying ‘a horrible political campaign’

Wednesday 10 July 2024 09:10 , Andy Gregory

Suella Braverman is facing a backlash after launching an extraordinary attack on the LGBT community, describing government buildings flying rainbow flags as “occupied territory”.

In a speech to burnish her leadership credentials with the Tory right, the ex-home secretary said the Progress version of the Pride flag represented “a horrible political campaign I disagreed with” and described trying to have it removed from her Marsham Street office.

And, in the incendiary speech, she said the flag symbolised support for “the mutilation of children in our hospitals”, something which she said “physically repulsed” her.

Read more in this report:

Outrage as Suella Braverman brands Pride flag flying ‘a horrible political campaign’

Kemi Badenoch ‘hits out at Sunak’s election campaign’ in first shadow cabinet meeting

Wednesday 10 July 2024 08:23 , Andy Gregory

Kemi Badenoch has reportedly used Rishi Sunak’s first shadow cabinet meeting to criticise his election campaign.

At the meeting on Tuesday, the shadow housing secretary hit out at the former prime minister’s decision to call an early general election without informing his cabinet, describing the move as a mistake and bordering on “unconstitutional”.

She accused Mr Sunak of instead first telling a small group of colleagues, including his parliamentary private secretary Craig Williams, who she is said to have called a “buffoon” after he admitted placing a bet on the election date.

The Times reported Ms Badenoch is concerned the “enormity” of the Conservative Party’s landslide defeat is not being grasped by some colleagues and that she is urging a thorough post-mortem with lessons to be learned.

Ms Badenoch is said to have called Mr Sunak’s decision to leave D-Day commemorations early “disastrous”, arguing colleagues such as Penny Mordaunt would have kept their seats if he had stayed longer in France.

My colleague Tara Cobham has the full report:

Badenoch ‘hits out at Sunak’s election campaign’ in first shadow cabinet meeting

Conservatives X account deleted after landslide loss to Labour

Tuesday 9 July 2024 08:14 , Andy Gregory

The Conservative Party’s official account on X, formerly Twitter, has been deleted, reports our technology editor Andrew Griffin.

The removal came on Monday, a few days after the Tories suffered a landslide defeat to Labour in the general election. Visitors to the page only saw an error message indicating that the account was no longer live. “Something went wrong,” read one of the messages.

Conservative sources suggested that the deletion was an error on X’s behalf, and that it was working to restore the account.

The party had used that account heavily during the campaign. Materials posted on the page included attack ads against Labour as well as policy announcements.

The Tories’ X account was just deleted

Full list of 175 Tory MPs that lost their jobs in election bloodbath

Tuesday 9 July 2024 06:57 , Andy Gregory

The Conservative Party suffered a crushing defeat in last week’s election, losing grip on power after 14 years in government.

The party lost over 244 seats across the country to a parties across the political spectrum, with seats being handed over to Labour, Reform, Liberal Democrats and even the Green Party in places.

My colleague Athena Stavrou has the full list of incumbent Tories who lost their seats:

Full list of all the Conservative MPs that lost their seats in election bloodbath

Ex-Cameron aide calls for ‘new vision of Conservatism'

Tuesday 9 July 2024 05:29 , Andy Gregory

Former David Cameron adviser and ResPublica think tank director Phillip Blond has warned that “the whole Tory offer is an abject failure.

Mr Blond said: “Lots of stuff from putative leadership contenders for the Tory leadership and advocates out there but it’s all visionless management speak that won’t shift a single voter.

“Stuff about delivery is a necessary but not sufficient condition for renewal – what’s missing is recognition that the whole original Tory offer is an abject failure and what’s needed is not more technocratic wish fulfilment but a genuine enhancing new vision of Conservatism. Without this voters will stream to Farage.”

Reactionary politics not the answer, says sole Tory mayor

Tuesday 9 July 2024 03:46 , Andy Gregory

Lord Ben Houchen, the Mayor of Teesside, the only major Tory election success in recent times, has warned about “competency” in an article for The Sunday Times.

He wrote: “If my experience tells me anything, it is that reactionary politics are not the answer to our recent setback.

“The Conservative Party’s true failing was not ideological; nor was it due to the election campaign or Rishi Sunak. The loss stemmed from a loss of confidence and trust, and a lack of belief in our ability to deliver at Westminster.”

Watch: Former Tory minister claims there was 'little appetite' for Labour at general election

Tuesday 9 July 2024 01:04 , Andy Gregory

Leadership race should take place after ‘bloodletting of recriminations’, says Tory MP

Monday 8 July 2024 23:23 , Andy Gregory

A Tory MP has warned that the party should hold off on a leadership contest until after the “bloodletting of recriminations” has concluded.

“This summer will be a blood letting of recriminations so it is not sensible to have that at the same time as leadership,” the anonymous MP told Politics Home. “No one will listen to us for six months. We then have two years to rebuild and a year to set out our stall before Starmer calls the next election.”

On the question of whether Rishi Sunak should remain in post, another said: “I do want the stability of not having an instantaneous leadership contest that will lead to all sorts of chaos. However, I also don’t really see that Rishi is going to be able to hold things together.

“Of the people to survive it will be very hard to do anything other than blame Rishi for an awful lot of what’s happened.”

Express reporter suggests CCHQ ‘in a bad way'

Monday 8 July 2024 22:10 , Andy Gregory

A political correspondent at the Daily Express has raised questions over the situation at CCHQ, remarking on the length of time it appears to have taken the Tories to respond to chancellor Rachel Reeves’ major speech today.

Former Tory chair says ‘panicked' lurch to right is ‘almost childlike’

Monday 8 July 2024 21:02 , Andy Gregory

Former Tory chair Lord Pickles has urged the Conservatives to focus on “detoxifying the brand” and “getting back to basic Conservative principes”.

Warning that a combination of “panic and displacement activity” risked seeing the party draw the wrong conclusions from the election result, he told The Observer: “There’s something almost childlike about it – just do this one thing and everything will be better again.

“The problem is not Farage. The problem is us, the Conservative party. We need to rebuild trust, we need to detoxify the brand and we need to start getting back to basic Conservative principles, which are very straightforward – it’s about enterprise, respect of the law and upholding of public service.

“Thatcher understood that. It takes a real leader to hold all those kinds of things together.”

Ex-Tory MP says party no longer ‘a viable entity'

Monday 8 July 2024 19:51 , Andy Gregory

Ex-Tory MP Marcus Fysh, a Brexiteer on the right of the party, has suggested it would be better for the country if the Conservatives ceased to to exist.

He told Times Radio: “I just don’t think it is a viable entity anymore. The new composition in parliament means I don’t think there is any chance it will do the things needed to be actually electable again. I’m just calling it how I see it; if it was my business I would wind it up.”

Braverman warns Tory party will cease to exist unless it neutralises Farage and Reform

Monday 8 July 2024 18:35 , Andy Gregory

Suella Braverman has become the first potential Conservative leadership candidate to admit that the party’s very existence is now at stake after the most disastrous general election result in its history.

The former home secretary was one of three potential leadership candidates to do the Sunday morning political shows, along with ex-health secretary Victoria Atkins and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick in an attempt to start diagnosing what went wrong.

Speaking on GB News on Sunday, Ms Braverman addressed the surge in support for Mr Farage and Reform and its effect on the Tories, warning: “We are facing an existential crisis. No party has the right to exist.”

Our political editor David Maddox has more in this report:

Braverman says Tory party won’t exist unless it neutralises Farage and Reform

Former Tory minister Damian warns lurch to the right is ‘weapons-grade idiocy'

Monday 8 July 2024 17:21 , Andy Gregory

Seeking to drag the Tory party further to the right is “weapons-grade idiocy”, a former minister has suggested.

Writing for the Observer, Damian Green – who lost his seat in Kent on Thursday – said: “Saying to millions of potential Conservative voters that they are not Conservative enough is weapons-grade idiocy in a first-past-the-post electoral system.

“If the Conservative party starts becoming ideologically exclusive it will wither and die.”

How does the Tory leadership contest work?

Monday 8 July 2024 16:28 , Kate Devlin, Whitehall Editor

Under the current rules, the party’s remaining rump of MPs get to decide which of the eventual leadership candidates will make it to the final two.

At that stage more than 100,000 local party members then make their choice and crown the winner.

The first stage of the process will give enormous power to the MPs who have survived the cull.

But who will they plump for? The right of the party accuses Rishi Sunak’s No 10 of trying to rig the vote on his successor by parachuting candidates from the centrist wing into what should be safer seats.

On the other hand, their opponents fear the party is about to stage a lurch to the right, which they argue could condemn it to a long time outside government.

The elephant in the room are fears of a takeover by Reform-backing supporters of Farage, or even Mr Farage himself. Many Conservatives harbour barely conceled fury towards the man who cost many Tory MPs their jobs. But there are some in the party who still want to embrace the populist Reform UK leader.

What happens now to the Tory party? Another leadership race of course

Scottish Tory justice spokesperson signals he could run in leadership race

Monday 8 July 2024 15:31 , Andy Gregory

Scottish Tory justice spokesperson Russell Findlay has signalled that he is considering a run at the party leadership north of the border.

Mr Findlay, a former journalist who prior to entering Holyrood was attacked with acid while investigating organised crime in Glasgow, said: “Tories across the UK have taken a beating – although our success in Scotland in holding constituencies shouldn’t be overlooked.

“Everyone should take time to reflect on the message we have been sent.

“Scotland needs to play a big part in rebuilding an election-winning conservative movement and, along with many others, I’ll be taking careful consideration of the new circumstances we are in and of how I can best contribute to that task.”

Jenrick says Tories ‘didn’t do whatever it takes’ on immigration

Monday 8 July 2024 13:59 , Andy Gregory

Robert Jenrick appears to agree with Nigel Farage that immigration was at the heart of the Tory defeat – pointing to a surge in support for Reform in most constituencies the Conservatives lost.

The former immigration minister – and likely Tory leadership hopeful – told the BBC on Sunday: “We didn’t have the willingness to take the tough decisions that were necessary to deliver for the British public; when we said, for example, on immigration that we would do whatever it takes, we didn’t do whatever it takes.”

Scottish Tories risk ‘political extinction’ without proper debate on new leader, MSP warns

Monday 8 July 2024 13:30 , Andy Gregory

The Scottish Conservatives could face “political extinction” if they do not have a wide debate on the future leadership of the party, a Tory MSP has warned.

Jamie Greene said there should be no “swift return to business as usual” after his party slumped to its lowest-ever vote share at a general election, returning five MPs north of the border – with current leader Douglas Ross due to stand down after losing his Westminster bid.

However, the contest to replace him will not begin until at least next week as the party’s management board will meet at the weekend to decide on the timeline.

Writing in The Times, Mr Greene said: “Is the Scottish Conservative party leadership hoping for a conveniently short contest, with high barriers to entry, to appoint its preferred candidate?

“Or is it willing to have a real and meaningful conversation about what sort of party they want any new leader to lead? I suspect some grandees prefer the former; a swift return to business as usual. I, however, and many others, believe the latter is a necessity.

“I’ll say this frankly: the party must do this properly to ensure the widest possible debate, lest we risk political extinction.”

Government still expects challenge in Commons despite heavy Tory defeat, minister says

Monday 8 July 2024 12:02 , Andy Gregory

New chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said the government will still expect to be challenged in the Commons despite the Tories’ heavy electoral defeat.

He told the BBC: “Of course the Conservatives suffered a historic loss, but that doesn’t mean there’s no opposition in the House of Commons and, of course, we have the House of Lords to get any legislation through as well.

“And the key thing that you’ll see from this Labour government is that we’re going to return both to the service of the British people, but also to the norms. The adults are back in the room.”

Watch: Kwasi Kwarteng refuses to rule out Tory comeback from himself or Liz Truss

Monday 8 July 2024 11:32 , Andy Gregory

Tories can win in 2029 with ‘the right leader’, ex-minister insists

Monday 8 July 2024 10:56 , Andy Gregory

Conservative former minister Kevin Hollinrake has insisted the Tories can win the 2029 general election if they “get the right leader” – and suggested the contest could kick off in earnest in September.

He told Times Radio: “I would argue we lost it rather than they won it, because look at the percentage share of the vote, no government has ever formed a majority with less than 34% of the vote, it’s quite incredible that’s the case.

“Hats off to them, the winner takes it all, they’ve got the spoils of victory, we need to hold to account for all those things.”

On the timescale for electing a new party leader Mr Hollinrake said: “It should be a few months of a job so we start on that process probably in September and then we elect our leader by the end of the year that’s the kind of timescale I would like.”

He added: “We lost heavily, but as I say not to a popular Labour government. That’s an opportunity for us. If we get the right leader, we regroup, we unite behind that leader, we can win in 2029. That’s got to be our job.”

Politics Explained | Can Farage kill off the Tory party and replace it with Reform UK?

Monday 8 July 2024 10:51 , Andy Gregory

The Conservative Party is the oldest and most successful political party in the world. It was in many ways the first modern political party and its history dates back at least 346 years to the foundation of the Tories, and arguably even longer to the Cavaliers who supported King Charles I in the Civil War.

But the party is facing its biggest crisis yet, with its very existence now in question. The rise of Nigel Farage and Reform UK party on the right is the first time a serious alternative in that political space has been presented to British voters.

While some wonder how a party with just five MPs can threaten such a long-established political institution, former home secretary Suella Braverman has warned that the Tory party does not have a right to exist. Her comments are a fair reflection of a turbulent time in politics, both here and overseas.

In an interview with The Independent, Mr Farage made it clear that replacement of the Tories is his plan, rather than seeking to take them over, and Ms Braverman knows this could happen.

Our political editor David Maddox has more:

Can Nigel Farage really kill off the Tory party and replace it with Reform UK?

Runners and riders: Who will vie to replace Rishi Sunak as leader of the Tories?

Monday 8 July 2024 10:31 , Andy Gregory

Rishi Sunak has said he will quit as Tory leader once arrangements are in place to choose his successor, triggering a potentially acrimonious contest to replace him.

Following huge losses for the Tories at the general election, a dozen top Cabinet ministers have lost their seats – meaning Penny Mordaunt and other possible runners have been knocked out of the race before it even started.

Here are the key contenders to watch:

Runners and riders: Who will vie to replace Rishi Sunak as leader of the Tories?

Tory leadership race could drag on until end of the year, ex-minister says

Monday 8 July 2024 10:30 , Archie Mitchell, Political Correspondent

In an indication of how long the contest could drag on, former business secretary Kevin Hollinrake said on Monday a leadership race could last until the end of the year, adding that “I don’t think there is any rush”.

He told the BBC: “In the next few months we need to reflect very carefully on [our loss], I think it will be some time before the end of the year before we put a new leader in place, I don’t think there is any rush.

“I think we need a proper discussion and debate about how the new leader can move towards low migration, lower taxation and tackling some of the political and cultural ideology we are seeing in our society.

“I think if we do all those things, we can present that very cogent challenge to Labour in 2029.”

Braverman’s Tory leadership bid ‘dead before it starts’ as key ally expected to back rival

Monday 8 July 2024 10:28 , Andy Gregory

Suella Braverman’s Tory leadership hopes have suffered an early blow as a key backer reportedly prepares to back Robert Jenrick instead.

Although no-one has formally launched a campaign to replace Rishi Sunak, Ms Braverman is expected to be a front runner. However, the former home secretary’s expected campaign has been described as “dead before it has even started” as right-wing MP Danny Kruger is said to support Mr Jenrick instead.

A source told The Times the party’s right wing want “someone with the “policies of Nigel Farage [but] with the presentational skills of David Cameron”. Another said her campaign was “dead before it even started”, accusing Ms Braverman of “going too hard, too soon”.

She had sparked anger on the eve of the general election penning an opinion piece declaring the race over, and urging the Tories to prepare for opposition.

A senior Tory responded to the article by telling The Independent it was a “last throw of the dice” for Ms Braverman, seeking to burnish her diminishing leadership credentials.

Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:

Braverman’s leadership bid ‘dead before it starts’ as key ally expected to back rival

Monday 8 July 2024 10:26 , Andy Gregory

Welcome to The Independent’s live blog on what could prove to be a lengthy Tory leadership race, where we’ll bring you the latest updates on the contest to replace Rishi Sunak.