What the Tory leadership candidates promised in their final speeches at conference

Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch are pitching to members in Birmingham, in their bid to replace Rishi Sunak.

They all delivered 20-minute speeches to the party faithful on the last day of their annual gathering in Birmingham.

Here’s what they said, and how they did.

Tom Tugendhat

Opening the addresses from the candidates, Mr Tugendhat labelled the general election “bruising” and claimed that the Tories need to “restore trust”. His general pitch was that he was “not here to manage, but to lead”.

Calling for a “new Conservative revolution”, Mr Tugendhat said the party needs to “focus on what the British people need and be absolutely ruthless about delivering it, from health care and immigration to security and education”.

He continued: “We will deliver and we can bring down taxes but not if we treat these symptoms separately. That is a prescription for managed decline.

“We can only fix the problem if we diagnose the cause, and it starts, as every Conservative knows, with our economy, real growth – not the illusion of growth that has been boosted by migration, has barely shifted in the past 30 years.

“Now that’s left us poorer and more vulnerable.

“We need to free the economy. We need a new Conservative revolution. That’s what Margaret Thatcher did. That’s what we must do again, and we can do it.”

There was also a direct appeal to voters who abandoned the Tories, and a pledge to win in five years time.

Verdict: Despite a broadly strong conference, the speech didn’t land brilliantly in the room, a point made even clearer by the address that followed.

James Cleverly

The shadow home secretary apologised on behalf of Conservative MPs for the disastrous election result, and told his party it had to change.

He said: "Let’s be enthusiastic; relatable; positive; optimistic.

"Let’s be more normal."

Mr Cleverly promised to "sell the benefits of conservatism with a smile" to win back voters who drifted to Labour, the Lib Dems and Reform, promising to see them do it with a “spring in their step”.

Ruling out any pact with Nigel Farage's Reform Party, there was also a dig at Mr Tugendhat, with the ex-Cabinet Minister saying this was "no time for an apprentice".

In a highly personal speech, Mr Cleverly spoke about his wife's recent battle with breast cancer, being made redundant, and claimed he was the candidate that Sir Keir Starmer, Sir Ed Davey and Nigel Farage “fear the most”.

He said: “Leadership is about things like making the tough decisions when you get that ugly phone call in the middle of the night about keeping this country safe, and because I’ve been there, because I know in detail what the Government should be doing right now, I know in detail how they’re failing – now is not the time for an apprentice.

“I’m not doing this because I want to be something, I’m doing this because I want to do something. Renew, yes. Rebuild, yes. To deliver for our party, yes. But mainly to deliver for our country.”

He added: “There is no time to lose, and I don’t lose. So if you want a winner, choose one. Choose someone who can deliver results, who can communicate effectively and who campaigns relentlessly.

“Choose someone who you know and who is tested and who doesn’t hide from the media. Choose someone who is not afraid of the public, but is popular with the public.

“And choose the candidate who Starmer, Farage and Davey fear the most, because I will not accept the status quo, I will not accept defeatism and I will not accept defeat.”

Verdict: A personal speech that also stressed his experience, members in the room seemed convinced, giving it a standing ovation. The strongest of the lot.

Robert Jenrick

Mr Jenrick arrived on stage as the bookies' favourite, having garnered the most Conservative MP backers so far.

Unsurprisingly, He focused on illegal immigration, promising to "take a stand" by quitting the European Court of Human Rights, and repeated his pledge to impose an “effective freeze” on through implementing an annual cap.

Mr Jenrick also promised his “new Conservative Party” would celebrate the UK’s “unparalleled national identities” if he becomes Tory leader.

This saw him claim the NHS is giving thousands of children life-changing surgery, that the Royal Air Force is picking people based on their gender, in a clear sign that he is the culture war candidate.

Mr Jenrick also took aim at “mad targets, the carbon budgets” which he said was “driving the mad policies” on net zero.

He added: “I say that with our new Conservative Party we will stand for cutting emissions but we will never do it on the backs of working people and by further de-industrialising our great country.”

Verdict: Far and away the poorest reception of the candidates, perhaps due a speech that showed no interest in reaching out to the voters that didn’t leave the Tories for Reform.

Kemi Badenoch

Pitching herself as the change candidate, Ms Badenoch warned her party’s delegates and activists their 2024 general election defeat could “extinguish the Conservative Party”.

She said: “I am no longer a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed backbencher. I am a veteran of four government departments and a former cabinet minister.

“I have seen the system from the inside – ladies and gentlemen, the system is broken.

“It is not enough just to be in government, because you can be in government and not have power.

“Without a plan to fix the system you end up just announcing policies, doing media and waiting for something to happen, and then you run into trouble, as this Labour Government are quickly finding out.

“For us it led to a reckoning, a historic defeat worse than 1997, a defeat that could extinguish the Conservative Party.”

Ms Badenoch has suggested the Treasury was to blame for the rise in immigration, and called herself a sceptic” of net zero.

Verdict: The second best received speech of the day, with members embracing her pledges for structural change, as well as her passionate criticisms of “identity politics”.