Vote: Who do you think should be the next Conservative leader?

Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick are currently in the race. Next week, Tory MPs will select the two candidates who will go forward to a vote of the party’s members, with the winner announced on 2 November.

A recent survey of members by the Conservative Home website put Badenoch ahead on 36 per cent, with Mr Jenrick in second on 25 per cent, and Mr Cleverly and Mr Tugendhat tied for third on 13 per cent.

Kemi Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch, a former business secretary, believes governments “cannot solve all of our problems – nor should they try to”; citizens should have a “commitment to a country and the people in it” and “reject attempts to force us into identity groups”; and that “family is the foundation of our society”.

She has called for winter fuel payments for all pensioners to be restored; criticised the “burden of regulation” on businesses, with her remarks about the high cost of maternity pay causing a major row; and claimed ten per cent of civil servants are ‘very bad’, joking they are “should-be-in-prison bad”.

Robert Jenrick

Robert Jenrick, a former communities secretary and immigration minister, resigned from the latter post “on principle, when it became clear the [Sunak] government’s Rwanda policy would not produce an effective deterrent”. He has spoken about capping net migration at tens of thousands;

He has been campaigning for less red tape on small businesses, action on the housing crisis and higher defence spending. He also wants the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Mr Jenrick has been criticised by Mr Cleverly and Mr Tugendhat, who both served in the military, over his claim that British special forces were “killing rather than capturing terrorists” over fears they would be freed because of human rights laws. Mr Tugendhat attacked Mr Jenrick’s use of video footage showing special forces soldiers, including a friend who died in an accident and who was "not able to defend himself against the accusation that is effectively being levelled against him”.

Tom Tugendhat

Tom Tugendhat, a former journalist and soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has served as chair of the foreign affairs select committee and a security minister. He led a cross-government taskforce “on the defence of Britain’s democracy against hostile states, disinformation and cyber attacks”.

He has warned that the Tories should avoid becoming a version of Reform UK, saying “we need to rebuild trust in the Conservative party”. He has pledged to cap immigration at 100,000 and would like to reform and derogate from parts of the ECHR. He wants to see a “a higher wage, lower migration economy”.

James Cleverly

James Cleverly, who served as Home, Foreign and Education Secretary, told the Conservative conference that his “political hero” was the late former US President Ronald Reagan, saying he made people in the US “vote for a Conservative, not reluctantly, but with enthusiasm”. “Let’s be more like Reagan. Let’s be enthusiastic, relatable, positive, optimistic. Let’s be more normal,” he said.

He wants to cut taxes, remove unnecessary business regulations and increase house-building.

Mr Cleverly has criticised Labour for a “big increase” in the number of people crossing the English Channel in small boats since they came to power, claiming the government has “lost control” of the situation. He has also argued Rishi Sunak's "stop the boats" slogan was a mistake, saying it "distilled a very, very complicated and challenging problem into a soundbite”.