Shadow defence and business secretaries say their conservative colleague has the X-factor and can ‘cut through’ to voters.
Kemi Badenoch had the backing of more than a third of the shadow cabinet on Sunday night, as two more members came out to say only she had the “X-factor” which could propel the Tories to victory.
James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, and Kevin Hollinrake, the shadow business secretary, said the Conservative leadership frontrunner could communicate with the public so the party’s message “cuts through”.
In an article for The Telegraph, they said she deserved to win because she combined “star quality, moral strength and sound principles”.
It brought the number of shadow cabinet endorsements for Ms Badenoch to 10 out of 29.
The endorsements came ahead of Tuesday’s second-round ballot in the Tory leadership race. Priti Patel was eliminated last week, and on Tuesday a second candidate will be knocked out.
The final four will put their cases at the party conference at the end of the month. MPs will then whittle down the choice to two, with party members voting throughout October. The winning candidate will be announced in early November.
In their article, Mr Cartlidge and Mr Hollinrake wrote: “It is not enough for us to criticise. We can rage at Labour’s actions, but the public won’t listen to our narrative – unless we have a leader who can communicate.
“Kemi Badenoch is that person. She is blessed with that rare gift in politics: the X-factor that means she can not only communicate but achieve an all-important ‘cut through’, so that the public actually notices.
The pair praised Ms Badenoch’s work to provide redress to the victims of the Post Office scandal and said she would be able to restore the Tories’ reputation for economic competence.
“Only Kemi combines star quality, moral strength and sound principles,” they said. “That’s why we believe she is the right person to lead our party and to lead the country.”
Atkins endorses Jenrick
Victoria Atkins, the shadow health secretary and a leading “one nation” Tory, on Sunday endorsed Robert Jenrick in the Tory leadership race, saying that he could win voters back to the party.
She told Sky News: “I don’t think this is a matter of Left and Right. I think we need to look at the election result, we have to understand why it is that voters turned away from us...
“I believe that Rob and I can find that common ground and reform the Conservative Party to attract those voters back to us.”
Mr Jenrick beat Ms Badenoch by six votes to top the first round of MP voting last week, with James Cleverly coming third ahead of Tom Tugendhat and Mel Stride in fourth and fifth.
Tugendhat pledges ‘revolution’
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Tugendhat promised to deliver “a Conservative revolution” four years from now.
The shadow security minister repeated his pledge to leave parts of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) straight away but said that this alone would not be enough.
“We need to make sure the economy actually works for people, delivering a higher-wage, lower-migration economy, not just shouting at foreigners from the White Cliffs and pretending that you can fix migration by withdrawing from a single treaty or changing a single bill.”
Kemi Badenoch combines star quality with moral strength – she must lead our party
By James Cartlidge and Kevin Hollinrake
When we were both elected as MPs for the first time in 2015, we had a clear manifesto to deliver: a plan that would keep our economy strong, controlling public spending so that we could start paying down our debts, while supporting small businesses, creating more jobs, cutting taxes and protecting pensioners.
That, combined with the definitive pledge to a referendum on EU membership, delivered the first majority Conservative government in almost twenty years.
Labour have been elected with no such clarity. They promise a strong economy but don’t understand how their French-style labour laws will undermine business.
They are meant to have put Corbynite hostility to the armed forces in the past – but are already reneging on their pledge to go to 2.5 per cent, threatening cuts to our military at a time of war in Europe. And pensioners have simply been thrown to the wolves.
But it is not enough for us to criticise. We can rage at Labour’s actions, but the public won’t listen to our narrative – unless we have a leader who can communicate.
Kemi Badenoch is that person. She is blessed with that rare gift in politics: the X-factor that means she can not only communicate but achieve an all-important ‘cut-through’, so that the public actually notices.
Kemi is authentic. She is something different and our members, who consistently put her at the top of independent YouGov and Conservative Home polls, can see that too.
Kemi can grab the spotlight and focus it on the Labour Government’s constant failings in a way that no one else can.
It’s why her masterful House of Commons takedown of Angela Rayner went viral online. It’s why Keir Starmer mentions her at PMQs. Labour are scared of Kemi – they know she can hurt them.
But of course, that isn’t everything in frontline politics: you have to be able to deliver. And deliver she can.
Throughout our time in ministerial office, we have seen it first hand. In our hugely important mission to provide redress for thousands of postmasters as a result of the Horizon Scandal, Kemi made things happen.
Long before the ITV drama, she spoke about the scandal in her party conference speech, giving her ministers the support we needed to deliver legislation which would quash convictions and get postmasters the compensation they deserved.
It was a team effort. And although Kemi is renowned for being tough, she also does what all good leaders do: surround themselves with good people, give them all the assistance they need to do the job and then let them get on with it.
Having both founded small businesses before entering politics, we know this is the only way to make things happen and achieve real change. We will win or lose the next election as a team.
In 2015, we were only able to control public spending because we worked together. You cannot have a chancellor saying they want to control public spending but being constantly undermined by their cabinet colleagues demanding more cash – as we are seeing already with Labour.
We forget at our peril that every pound the Government spends is a pound that must be taken in tax from families, businesses and consumers.
Our manifesto at the last election contained plenty of fiscally prudent conservative ideas – like Business Rates reform, reviewing the VAT threshold and improving SME access to finance, ensuring we could support business and generate the wealth needed to fund our public services.
Where we did promise higher spending – such as our clear pathway to 2.5 per cent GDP on defence – we made a fully funded offer, paid for by returning the civil service to its pre-pandemic size.
To deliver a fiscally conservative economic agenda, we need someone who understands the trade-offs of making policy promises and is willing to build a team which can stand strong and united. By the same token, to deliver a Conservative government, we need to restore our reputation for economic competence and prudence.
Kemi can do just that. As former ministers in the last government, we see clearly Kemi’s honesty about the scale of the challenge and her refusal to treat this contest as a policy arms race makes her the only candidate who understands an essential truth – we must be able to both beat Labour and deliver on our promises.
Of course, we are lucky as a party to have a huge amount of talent in this contest – and all the leadership contenders have tremendous strengths in their own right.
But only Kemi combines star quality, moral strength and sound principles. That’s why she is the clear choice of Conservative members. And it is why we believe she is the right person to lead our party and to lead the country.
James Cartlidge is the shadow defence secretary and Kevin Hollinrake is the shadow business secretary
Published in the Sunday Telegraph.