Tory MPs should be brave enough about their candidate not to stitch up final two

Candidates will really be feeling the pressure tomorrow as they brace for their final opportunity to persuade members they are the man or woman to defeat Keir Starmer.

At the beginning of this conference, the mood felt bizarrely buoyant. Cheered up by Keir Starmer’s unprecedented implosion thanks to Winter Fuel, cronyism, corruption, sleaze and scandal, the Tories felt incredibly optimistic that without too much soul-searching, they could be back in power come 2029.

However over the past couple of days, cracks have re-emerged, and divisions have re-opened the old wounds deeply inflicted by 14 years of Government.

The party still feels some way off the mood of desperation Labour found themselves in when picking Keir Starmer, and none of the candidates have yet offered a brave or profound vision of how the party must change, apologies it should issue, and controversial policies it must pursue in order to regain public trust.

Tomorrow is the final opportunity for members to hear from the four vying for the position. They will each give a 20-minute speech - one would hope without reading from an autocue - before the members.

But as ever this is something of a charade. What matters at this conference hasn’t been the rallies, the merchandise, the briefings or the image.

What matters is how MPs have perceived the circus, and whether any candidate’s behaviour, performance, stumbles or self-inflicted cock-ups give them pause for thought.

I’m not brave enough to predict how MPs will vote come next week, but having spent time with Tory members over the past week, I know they are decent, thoughtful, hard-working people who deserve the choice they want - not another Westminster stitch up.

It’s rumoured MPs are mulling a plot to keep Kemi Badenoch off the ballot paper presented to members.

In 2016 Theresa May won by default after Andrea Leadsom pulled out, depriving Mrs May of debating her and exposing her obvious personal flaws.

In 2019 Boris Johnson fixed the final two so he had an easy ride against Jeremy Hunt.

In 2022, neither of the frontrunners - Kemi Badenoch and Penny Mordaunt - made the final two.

And after Liz Truss resigned members were once again deprived of a say over Rishi Sunak.

If their candidate is good enough to defeat Keir Starmer, they should be good enough to defeat any of the other three come November. If they try fixing it again, they should expect - neigh deserve - a further exodus of members.