Tories should take their time choosing right leader, urges Jeremy Hunt ahead of crunch meeting this week

JEREMY Hunt has become the most senior figure yet to urge the Conservatives to “take their time” in picking a new leader.

The Shadow Chancellor also urged the party to own up to failings on migration, admitting “we did not get everything right” in power.

A crunch meeting this week will lay out rules of the contest to replace Rishi Sunak – with growing pressure to wait until after party conference season to anoint a new Leader of the Opposition.

Tory MPs are pushing for the contest to conclude as last as November after a summer of soul searching over their election drubbing.

But the flat broke party HQ may push for a quicker contest they are teetering on the red.

A long contest would cost to £1.5 million more before a new leader could begin trying to lure back donors to turn party fortunes around.

Mr Hunt told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “This time next year, the only thing that will matter is not whether we have a new leader in place by October or December, but whether we have the right leader in place, someone who can earn back that trust that we lost.

“So I think, if we need to, we absolutely should take our time.”

But he warned that summer should be used to own up to failings in power – including on migration.

And he suggested the middle ground of British politics had shifted in recent years.

He told the BBC: “In a two-party system, in the UK as we have, elections are always won from the centre ground.

“But I think the really interesting question is what is the centre ground in British politics?

“And I think ordinary, decent British families want controls on migration, they want the government to show restraint on spending and keep taxes down, they want welfare to be reformed so it’s fair to people who get up early and work hard.

“I think that is the centre ground, that is where the Conservatives should be and we need to carve out a position that does that, but reflects honestly on the fact that we didn’t get everything right and we need to be open about why we didn’t get everything right.

“And that is the way we will give people confidence that we’ll be able to do things differently than before.”