James Cleverly leaves door open to running for Tory leader

James Cleverly has not ruled out running to be leader of the Conservative Party after the general election.

The Home Secretary said that being the Leader of the Opposition was not “a job people should aspire to” but did not say whether or not he was considering it.

Asked about replacing Rishi Sunak by Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday, Mr Cleverly said: “My focus is on getting myself and my colleagues re-elected. I want to try and make sure you’ve got enough MPs to form a Conservative majority.

“If that isn’t the case, then we will deal with the circumstances as we find that. We want to make sure that if we do have to hold the Labour Party to account we’ll do so.

“Leader of the Opposition is not a job people should aspire to. Being in government is a job people should aspire to. I’ve made that clear.

“I want to make sure we get as many Conservatives as we can.”

His comments come after The Times reported last week that Mr Cleverly had told friends he does not plan to put himself forward.

The Home Secretary was first elected for Braintree, Essex, in 2015, and has since held a number of Cabinet positions including the role of foreign secretary.

Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, is expected to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party if Mr Sunak were to resign.

Other senior Tories tipped to run are Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary, and Priti Patel, the former Home Secretary.

Ms Badenoch declined to answer questions about whether she could be a future party leader in an interview with The Telegraph last week.

Speculation surrounding the future leadership of the party continues after a poll for The Telegraph showed that around three quarters of the Cabinet are on course to lose their seats.

They include Mr Cleverly, Penny Mordaunt, the Commons Leader and Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary.

Mr Sunak is also predicted to lose his seat, which would make him the first sitting prime minister in British electoral history to do so.

Mr Cleverly also told Sky that Reform UK has no place within the Conservative Party, and accused Nigel Farage of echoing Vladimir Putin’s claims that the West was responsible for provoking Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The things that he and others have said, both about the Conservative Party and about world affairs, means that I cannot see how it can be a natural home for them in the Conservative Party.

“We are passionate about our defence of democracy and freedom, both historically and in the here and now, and that just feels at odds with a lot of things I’m hearing.”