? @gordonrayner reports: Dame Priti Patel will stand in the Conservative leadership race after being “urged to run” by fellow MPs, The Telegraph has learnedhttps://t.co/D8uDWc09NO

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) July 16, 2024

EXCLUSIVE

Tom Tugendhat is expected to announce his Tory leadership bid within weeks, after finding widespread support among MPs

He has set up a supporter group of both current and former Tory politicians while preparing for a second tilt at the top jobhttps://t.co/1pNe6pnk46

— Dominic Penna (@DominicPenna) July 16, 2024

it is often said winners of Tory leadership contests win because they aren’t somebody else. IDS and William Hague won because they weren’t Ken Clarke, John Major won to some extent because he wasn’t Michaael Heseltine in the eyes of many Thatcherites, whilst five years later Major won because he wasn’t John Redwood and I wonder if 2024 will see a repeat.

Suella Braverman only has two flaws, everything she says and everything she does, whilst Kemi Badenoch has nothing to show from being a cabinet minister other than stoking the culture wars and pissing off Suella Braverman. With Patel swimming in the same political waters as those two and seems relatively normal compared to those two which is good news for those who followed my 33/1 tip on Patel to succeed Sunak.

Meanwhile Tom Tugendhat could win because he’s seen as relatively palatable if he makes it to the final two, and I know he doesn’t like to mention it much but he’s an ex soldier, and that usually goes down well with Tory members.

It says a lot about the Tory party being the party of inclusion and equality that they could be potentially on their fourth female leader and second non white leader whilst Labour in their history have only ever had pale and stale males as party leader.

TSE