James Cleverly to run for the Tory leadership with a promise to unite the party

James Cleverly is set to announce on Wednesday that he will run to become the next Conservative leader with a vow to bring the party together.

The ex-home secretary will be the first to publicly declare his bid after securing the backing of the 10 Tories needed to make it into the first round.

Mr Cleverly took a swipe at potential rival Suella Braverman, who claimed the party is full of “centrist cranks”.

He said: “Trying to carve up and divide up and factionalise is the wrong way of thinking.”

Mr Cleverly said that he had thought about the future of the country and his contribution in turning around Tory fortunes.

He added: “I’ve always believed, to do the job that you’re meant to be doing when you’re meant to be doing it. And when I was in government I focused on delivering in government. Now I’m in opposition, my focus, particularly today, is to hold the Labour Party to account.”

Other potential leadership contenders include shadow communities secretary Kemi Badenoch, former home secretary Dame Priti Patel, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat and former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride.

Nominations for the race open on Wednesday and run until July 29.

MPs will then narrow the field down to four, who will make their case at the Conservative Party Conference in the autumn.

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.

But the lengthy timetable and complicated system has caused fury among Tories.

One said it was “madness” that the four candidates going before party members in the so-called beauty parade at conference would be whittled down to two only by MPs.

That means members could overwhelmingly favour one of the four candidates, but the final two they get to vote on may exclude that person.

Another raised concerns that the candidates will not be given proper scrutiny by members because the hustings will only be held with MPs.

A third Tory said the threshold for entry into the contest had been set so low that too many MPs will throw their hat into the ring.

Rishi Sunak will remain in place until the new leader is appointed, which means he is likely to have to respond to the new Labour government’s first budget in the autumn.

Ms Braverman has long been viewed as keen to enter the race but has also faced speculation that she could defect to Reform.

Appearing as a guest host on LBC, she the former home secretary said the party had “quite a centrist Conservative agenda” actually under Rishi Sunak and that “identity politics got out of control” under the Tories.

She added: “We had quite high levels of taxation. Immigration was quite high in terms of the actual outcomes.

“There was a lot of focus on trying to get the public services to work.

“We need to be a party that’s firm and credible on immigration.

“We need to give some hope to the British people on taxation, robust on security and defence, and a real champion for common sense British values.

“None of this divisive identity politics and woke nonsense. It really frustrates me that that has happened on our watch.”

Ms Braverman said the Tories must “grapple with this phenomenon of Reform” and claimed it was “a really big existential question” for the party.

She said: “Hundreds of Conservative MPs lost their seats, some of them very good friends of mine, all of them brilliant, brilliant community servants, excellent MPs, lost their seats largely because of Reform.

“Lifelong Conservative voters decided to dump us and vote for Reform at this general election because they were upset with the direction that the party was going in.

“I think for us going forward as a party, we need to really grapple with this phenomenon of Reform.

“So, we need to have credibility on immigration. We need policies and a leader that actually stands for lowering immigration, stands for stopping the boats, restoring some sanity to the immigration debate.”

Centrist candidate Tom Tugendhat is also expected to announce his plan to run soon.

He was endorsed by former party chairman Jake Berry, who said Mr Tugendhat would “put an end to the game-playing, and unite our party”.