Priti Patel in the only one who can take the fight to Labour and the Liberal Democrats

There is a mountain to be climbed by the next Leader of the Conservative Party, but we know well the only woman who can do it.

The electorate’s judgement on division and perceived lack of delivery was emphatic - and we must accept that verdict with humility. What we heard consistently on doorsteps in our two seats - one Labour facing and the other Liberal Democrat - shows what happens if the Conservative Party forgets its core values and resorts to bitter infighting.

Tinkering at the edges or pushing forward a few new faces is not enough - it simply won't change the public’s view of our party: only sweeping change will help us get back into government.

Working side by side with Priti in the Home Office as our nation faced a range of stark and often grave challenges, we have seen her show grit, determination, discipline, and a laser-like focus on delivery up-close, even in the face of persistent personal attacks.

She has a mammoth work ethic and courage and conviction in spades - qualities reminiscent of another famous female Conservative Party leader who against all the odds took on the left and changed Britain for the better.

Such skills and attributes will be vital as our next leader takes on various big challenges in what is a dangerous and uncertain world, ranging from long overdue and much-needed reform of our party structures, to ensuring we work as a single united team, and to draw on all the party's talents to draft up a credible policy offering to put to voters.

Priti is undoubtedly the person who can be trusted to do this. She is a leader who gets why voters felt let down on migration, public services and tax.

While Keir Starmer's support at the election was evidently wide but shallow, the political battle ahead will be gruelling. We will have to fight council elections like general elections, needing to be across the country day in, day out, to re-earn the right to get our message heard.

That pressing challenge starts now, with vital local elections taking place in May next year. We should not underestimate the significance the commentators will place on that electoral test in forming judgements about our party's future.

In the debate about rebuilding, it is also often forgotten how our party will need to go street by street, door by door, vote by vote, to win back trust.

This cannot be done solely by our depleted team of MPs and to-be selected candidates; it will need the army of volunteers across our country who often felt ignored as the rows of the last two years played out at Westminster. Interestingly, whilst some condescendingly suggested our members should lose their say on the leadership, Priti resolutely stood up for their right to be heard via the Conservative Democratic Organisation.

She has also always been a colleague who has put in the hard yards to get out there and support Constituency Associations, boost campaigns, and champion the grassroots - and not just at election time.

This isn't surprising, as she's someone who has given decades of service to the Conservative cause and who is committed to her core, having at some time or another fulfilled most of the roles in our party's structure from activist right the way through to senior Cabinet Minister. She really does get it.

Ultimately, in politics, history is not a mandate to govern or even a right to be heard. We may be the oldest and most successful political party in the world, but each generation presents a need to renew ourselves, whilst sticking to our conservative values and our belief in the nation we seek to serve. We have no divine right to exist, let alone govern.

We must therefore win the battle of ideas ahead of us and reconnect with the country again, as we have at pivotal moments before.

Our future survival and success depends on reforming our party; galvanising the grassroots once more; setting out a renewed and vibrant Conservative vision for Britain into the 2030s - having truly listened; and strong leadership at the front driving us forward through the challenges of opposition and towards the prize of government.

Priti has the vision, experience, work ethic and determination to make what feels like the impossible right now, eminently possible, and to lead a talented, wide-ranging team which will win the next General Election and see off the catastrophic perils of Labour once more.