James Cleverly hints he will stand in Tory leadership race to replace Rishi Sunak

James Cleverly has hinted that he will stand in the Tory leadership contest.

The shadow home secretary said "there is a reasonable chance'' he will throw his hat in the ring.

He told Sky News: “There is a reasonable chance. Look we enter public service because we want to serve the British people.

"Particularly as Conservatives, we are not a lobby group, we are not a think tank, we are not the political arm of some movement.

“The Conservative Party exists to provide good government and when we are in government it is our duty to do it well and when we are ejected from government we need to think about why that happened, what we need to do differently.”

Asked whether he had the backing of 10 MPs, needed to enter the first round of voting, the Conservative frontbencher said: "I've had lots of very kind words from colleagues, both former colleagues and current colleagues."

After Suella Braverman warned that the party risks becoming "centrist cranks", Mr Cleverly added: "Trying to carve up and divide up and factionalise ... is the wrong way of thinking."

It comes as the Conservative Party will appoint a new leader on November 2 to replace Rishi Sunak.

Nominations will kick off on Wednesday evening and close in the afternoon on July 29.

Each candidate will need a proposer, seconder and eight nominations to qualify.

The parliamentary party will then narrow the field down to four, who will make their case at the Conservative Party Conference, which runs from September 29 to October 2.

The final two, picked by the parliamentary party, will then be voted on by Conservative Party members in an online ballot that will close on October 31, before the result is announced on November 2.

Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat, Dame Priti Patel and Suella Braverman are widely expected to have a tilt for the top job.