Lord Houchen attacks 'Trumpian' Suella Braverman as top Tories jostle for position

Suella Braverman has come under fire from a senior Tory colleague after she attacked liberal Conservatives over the party's General Election drubbing. Lord Ben Houchen took aim at the former home secretary who is tipped to enter the race to replace Rishi Sunak as the party's leader.

In a discussion about Tory MPs positioning themselves to take part in a leadership race, Lord Houchen hit back at remarks made by the former home secretary about the party's General Election result at an event in Washington DC.

On the Tories' historic election defeat, Mrs Braverman told the National Conservatism conference on Monday (July 8): "Our problem is us. Our problem is that the liberal Conservatives who trashed the Tory party think it was everyone's fault but their own. My party governed as liberals and we were defeated as liberals. But seemingly, as ever, it is Conservatives who are to blame."

In her speech, Mrs Braverman criticised the flying of the Progress Pride flag to "show how liberal and progressive" the Tories are, adding: "The Progress flag says to me one monstrous thing: That I was a member of a government that presided over the mutilation of children in our hospitals and from our schools."

Asked if the comments unnerved him, Lord Houchen told the BBC: "I think it does. I think those types of ideological arguments, that kind of cultural, right (wing) argument completely misses the point of why we lost this election.

"I think if we go down that route - I'm not saying there aren't discussions we have to have about things like trans rights and women-only spaces - but to try and be so Trumpian in the way you phrase those debates is unhelpful.

"I saw those comments online and I thought they were absolutely despicable. And that, for me, does not serve any place in the Conservative Party leadership and I think they were really disappointing and I think she's done herself a disservice."

Lord Houchen warned things could get worse for the Conservative Party, claiming some politicians had assumed they had a right to govern or had become lazy and lost sight of the need to serve the public.

He added: "We need to get back to that effective governance and I think that playing to a very small section of crowd around cultural conservatism/wokeism and having that fight is not going to go down well because people want effective public services, they want a strong economy, they want to see things get better for local people, their family, their community.

"If we want to have another argument (within the Conservative Party), then we might as well sit in opposition for many, many years to come."

The Tees Valley mayor refused to name a Tory MP he would support as leader, but noted there are one or two "left-field" candidates he recognised, besides half a dozen hopefuls expected to put themselves forward.

Lord Houchen revealed he has received messages and calls in relation to the leadership, but said: "I'm arranging meetings with people. I want to understand whether they want to have a grown up conversation in the leadership election or do they want to play A-Level politics - that's of no interest to me."

The Tories made a net loss of 251 seats at the election last week, which Mrs Braverman described as a "devastating result", leaving the party with 121 MPs.

Labour won a landslide with 412 MPs, ousting several senior Tory figures including Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, former Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, defence secretary Grant Shapps and ex-prime minister, Liz Truss.

Mr Sunak has said he will remain as party leader until the process to replace him has been agreed, with senior figures including Kemi Badenoch, Dame Priti Patel, Robert Jenrick and Mrs Braverman expected to throw their hats in the ring.

Lord Houchen put the party's defeat down to a perceived lack of trust among the public who were no longer listening to the Tories.

He said voters had lost confidence in the Conservative Party's ability to deliver effective government and had "switched off". Lord Houchen urged the party to cut through claims the defeat was due to Nigel Farage and realise it was about competence.

The Tory peer added: "What I saw on Thursday (July 4) was not necessarily overwhelming want of the Labour Party. This isn't 1997 where people actively went out and voted for Tony Blair and New Labour. This was a mass rejection of the Conservative Party."

Lord Houchen warned the party not to got bogged down in a debate about ideology, adding that if it did so the Tories would be in opposition for a very long time.