Kemi Badenoch enters Tory leadership race & vows to help entrepreneurs as Suella Braverman rules herself out
KEMI Badenoch has charged into the Tory leadership race with a vow to reward entrepreneurial Brits.
The shadow housing secretary – who served as business and trade secretary in the last government – becomes the sixth person to put themselves forward.
The anti-woke Tory MP pledged to stop the slamming of capitalism as a “dirty word”.
And she promised to guarantee the economy works for those who work hard – from the white van man to city bankers.
The darling of the right pitched to “renew” her party in time for 2030, the “first full year we can be back in Government and the first year of a new decade”.
Writing in The Times, she said: “If I have the privilege to serve, we will speak the truth again.
“Our public services will never fully recover from the pandemic until we remember that government should do some things well, not everything badly.”
She added: “The wealth of our nation is built upon our historic ability to capture the ingenuity and industry of our people, and the willingness of many to trade risk for reward.
“It’s become a dirty word, but our renewal must also mean a renewal for capitalism.”
Conservative grassroots favourite Ms Badenoch became the final candidate in a crowded field of six leadership contenders.
With nominations for the leadership closing, Ms Badenoch will face off against Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly, former Home Office ministers Priti Patel and Robert Jenrick, ex-Pensions Secretary Mel Stride and Shadow Security Minister Tom Tugendhat.
Six will be whittled to four in time for party conference in October, where contenders will make their pitches directly to the membership.
On November 2 the winner will be crowned.
Suella Braverman had also been expected to run, but said she has chosen not to despite having the backing of the 10 MPs she needed before the 2.30pm deadline on Monday.
Ex-Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “Although I’m grateful to the 10 MPs who wanted to nominate me for the leadership, getting on to the ballot is not enough.”
She added that “there is, for good or for ill, no point in someone like me running to lead the Tory Party when most of the MPs disagree with my diagnosis and prescription” of what went wrong at the election.
The MP added: “I’ve been branded mad, bad and dangerous enough to see that the Tory Party does not want to hear this.
“And so I will bow out here.”
On Sunday Shadow Paymaster General John Glen urged the wannabe leaders to be “put through their paces” as the party isn’t looking to hire a “caretaker leader”.
He told Sky News the Tories needed undergo “a rigorous process” that involved “demonstrating some humility”.
Mr Glen said: “It’s going to be a tough ask and I want every candidate to be put through their paces.
“I want the membership of the Conservative Party to be given the opportunity to scrutinise those candidates, my excellent colleagues, in the party conference in the autumn.”