James Cleverly running for Conservative leadership

Ex-Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has announced his candidacy to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.

The Braintree Member of Parliament, who holds the role of shadow home secretary at present, uploaded a video on social media declaring his intention to run for office on Tuesday night.

He is the initial candidate from the Conservative Party to declare his candidacy for the leadership position. The party stated that they will conduct a three-month contest to elect a new leader to succeed Rishi Sunak by November.

Mr Sunak has announced that he will continue to serve as interim leader until a new leader is chosen.

In his campaign video, Mr. Cleverly emphasized the importance of the Conservatives rebuilding their image as a party that supports economic growth and helps individuals reach their goals and aspirations.

"We can only achieve this by coming together as a cohesive team, with a strong emphasis on serving the interests of the British public," he stated.

Mr Cleverly had previously advised his party to not limit their options as they work to recover after their significant election loss on 4 July.

He stated that the party should strive to be inclusive and appeal to a wide range of voters in order to regain support from both the left and right.

Many people believed that the shadow home secretary would throw his hat in the ring to try and become the leader of the Conservative Party. In the past, he has held positions as the foreign and home secretary in earlier Conservative administrations.

Other possible contenders for the position are ex-minister Mel Stride, who mentioned that he is "thinking about" running for the role, ex-immigration minister Robert Jenrick, past home secretaries Suella Braverman and Dame Priti Patel, opposition security minister Tom Tugendhat, and opposition communities secretary Kemi Badenoch.

Leadership hopefuls must have backing from 10 Tory MPs by July 29th to remain in the competition. At this stage, there could be as many as 11 MPs vying for the position.

Members of Parliament will start to limit the number of candidates through a series of votes when parliament reconvenes in early September. The aim is to reduce the number of contenders to four by the time of the Conservative conference at the end of the month.

Members of the party will select a leader from the group of candidates through a vote that will end on October 31st.

Bob Blackman, in his role as head of the backbenchers' 1922 Committee, will be in charge of choosing the new leader. He expressed his commitment to ensuring that a respectful and comprehensive discussion on leadership will take place within our party.

He stated: "Although there are important discussions to be had about the future of our party, we must keep in mind that the nation - and our supporters - prefer to see us involved in respectful discussions, not hasty criticisms."