Who Replaces Rishi Sunak? Here Are The Leading Runners And Riders

The threshold to appear on the ballot is significantly lower than during the last leadership election in 2022, when candidates needed the backing of 100 MPs. In that race, Rishi Sunak was the sole contender after Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt withdrew.

The prospective candidates are fighting for the support of 121 Conservative MPs in the House of Commons. But party whips and members of the 1922 Committee are not allowed to nominate and openly support a candidate due to internal rules.

The numbers will be whittled down to four which will be given the chance to speak to members at Conservative Party conference between 29 September and 2 October. Details of how and when each candidate will speak is yet to be agreed. 

Kemi Badenoch

Badenoch, 44, was elected to Parliament in 2017 and has served as a minister under Boris Johnson and a cabinet minister under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. The MP for North West Essex clung on to a seat at the general election with a reduced majority of 2,610. 

The former cabinet minister is the bookmakers' favourite to replace Sunak as Conservative Party leader in November. While she is still yet to declare, her leadership pitch will aim to heal the divisions between the right and left of the party. Her priorities are likely to focus on free markets, free speech and tackling gender ideology in schools. Badenoch often draws on her intellectual influences in interviews in speeches, including free market economist Thomas Sowell and one of her favourite books Why Nations Fail. 

When Badenoch first ran for Tory leader in 2022 to replace Boris Johnson, she was backed by Michael Gove, which has hightened many people's suspicions. "[Kemi] is good. But Gove is a Marxist which makes Badenoch look terribly advised," one senior Tory told PoliticsHome. 

Her key supporters include Alex Burghart, the Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, and Julia Lopez, the Shadow Culture Secretary. One Conservative adviser said they would be “incredibly surprised” if Badenoch did not win. “She’s the only one [candidate] with a caucus”.

Robert Jenrick

The Conservative MP for Newark was at risk of losing his seat at the general election. Having returned to Parliament with a majority of more than 3,000, he has a strong chance of winning the leadership election. 

Jenrick has put his nomination papers in, which means he has garnered the support of 10 MPs. He has served as Housing Minister under Boris Johnson and Immigration Minister under Sunak.

Once viewed as a close ally to Sunak, he resigned from government after he believed the Conservatives failed to tackle small boat crossings across the Channel. 

He is viewed as being on the centre-right of the party and has hoovered up the support of those who previously backed Suella Braverman at the last leadership election. They include right-wing MPs Danny Kruger and Sir John Hayes. 

One supporter, who stood as a Tory candidate, suggested he has modelled his image and conservative politics on Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative Canadian leader who has put housebuilding, tax cuts and controlling the money supply at the top of his list of priorities. 

However, MPs on the left of the party do not believe Jenrick is distinctive enough to cut through as leader of the opposition. "The problem with Jenrick is you wouldn't recognise him in a lineup of two," one Tory MP said. 

His profile is lower than many of his opponents, and his position on taking Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) may divide many of his MPs in the party. 

James Cleverly

Cleverly, 54, has cabinet experience which very few elected Conservative politicians have in the parliamentary party. He has served as home secretary, foreign secretary and party chairman under three Conservative prime ministers. 

Cleverly served in the British army before entering politics in 2015. He has pitched himself as a centrist candidate, who is an "excellent communicator" with his team confident he will perform well at the hustings events at party conference. 

Many of his supporters - which include Simon Hoare, Peter Fortune and Gagan Mohindra - believe he can be the unifying figure within the Tory Party which has been torn apart by infighting. Hoare told PoliticsHome he believed Cleverly was a "fantastic listener and a very good campaigner" with "excellent people skills". His allies believe he would be well-placed as someone who could win back Reform voters while convincing those who also voted for Labour and the Lib Dems to come on side. 

Despite his pitch, Cleverly is unlikely to win the support of key backers to make the final two, while some MPs believe he is not seen as capable of fulfilling the role of opposition leader. 

Tom Tugendhat

The former solider, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee before being appointed as security minister in 2022. He is viewed as a One Nation Conservative with hawkish views on Russia and China.

"Tom has robust Conservative principles like the others but he expresses them in a way that has broad appeal and the right tone," said one adviser close to Tugendhat's campaign. They believed he was more right-wing on economics than the public and members gave him credit for. 

His key supporters include Alicia Kearns and Karen Bradley, who are on the left of the party. He has put competence and the threat of leaving the ECHR at the heart of his campaign. 

One drawback for Tugendhat is that the party membership are unlikely to back a candidate who is not of the right of the parliamentary intake. "Tom is a good guy but our members are not going to vote for him," a former cabinet minister told PoliticsHome. "His new view on the ECHR shows how difficult the problem is. I know that's not what he really thinks, as that is not the position he took in government."

Priti Patel

Patel, 52, made her name as a Boris Johnson loyalist and served under his leadership as home secretary. "Boris will not openly support her, but privately, I am sure he will back Priti," one former minister, who served under Patel, told PoliticsHome. "They are still very close. She went to his birthday party recently and they both talk regularly."

She has been viewed as on the right of the Party, but is personally well-liked across the political spectrum. “[Patel] is not at all from the left of the party, but might be acceptable to parts of it, since she's widely seen as a responsible figure,” Lord Goodman, former editor of ConservativeHome previously told PoliticsHome.

Her key supporters in Parliament include Greg Smith, Alec Shelbrooke and Saqib Bhatti. Patel's key message will be party unity. She never called for Johnson's removal as prime minister, and remained loyal to his successors Liz Truss and Sunak. 

“Priti is the Brat candidate in this election,” one Tory MP told PoliticsHome.  Charli XCX, whose new album is called Brat, explains it means “that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says dumb things sometimes.” 

One problem for Patel is her political baggage, especially after she was subject to bullying allegations during her time as home secretary, which she denied. In 2020, Sir Philip Rutnam, the Home Office's former permanent secretary, resigned from the civil service and said he would sue the government over the way he was treated. A settlement was eventually agreed.

Mel Stride

Stride, 62, confirmed he was running for Tory Party leadership on Friday. He clung on to his seat Central Devon by 61 votes and has one of the most marginal constituencies in the country. 

The former Work and Pensions Secretary will centre his campaign on the issue of competence. One MP said they believed Stride would make the final four candidates, but many other MPs in the party are highly sceptical. 

He has been openly seen in the Commons conducting conversations with Tory MPs from across the party. But there are still question marks as to whether he will make it to party conference and realistically challenge the other candidates. 

One drawback is that Stride was viewed as one of Sunak's closest allies. He defended the former prime minister on the airwaves and regularly came out to bat for the former government on the airwaves. This image will be difficult to shake-off after the Tories' worst election defeat in more than 200 years. 

Additional reporting from Harriet Symonds and Adam Payne.

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