Jeremy Hunt blasts Suella Braverman for Tory moderates 'cranks' jibe (2024)

Jeremy Hunt slapped down Tory right-winger Suella Braverman today as the battle for ideological control of the beaten party heated up.

Shadow chancellor Mr Hunt warned that elections are 'always won from the centre ground' after the former Home Secretary launched an astonishing attack on party moderates.

Ms Braverman, who is expected to run to be Tory leader, used a weekend interview to again make overtures to Nigel Farage's Reform UK and warned the Conservatives risk becoming 'centrist cranks'.

But appearing on the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme Mr Hunt, who has ruled out running himself, said that the next Tory leader had to restore the Tory 'reputation for calm competence'.

'In a two-party system, in the UK as we have, elections are always won from the centre ground,' he said.

'But I think the really interesting question is what is the centre ground in British politics?

'And I think ordinary, decent British families want controls on migration, they want the government to show restraint on spending and keep taxes down, they want welfare to be reformed so it's fair to people who get up early and work hard.

'I think that is the centre ground, that is where the Conservatives should be and we need to carve out a position that does that, but reflects honestly on the fact that we didn't get everything right and we need to be open about why we didn't get everything right.

'And that is the way we will give people confidence that we'll be able to do things differently than before.'

It echoed a similar plea from Lord Houchen, the election Tory mayor of the Tees Valley.

He toldSky News's Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that the party needed a 'back to basics leader' and urged Ms Braverman to 'conduct this leadership contest with civility'.

Ms Braverman has previouslysuggested the Conservatives should welcome Nigel Farage into the party and said that his Reform party 'presents an existential threat to us electorally'.

Yesterday she used an interview with the Telegraph to suggest the Tories are 'refusing to learn the unarguable lesson of the 2024 election'.

'If we don't recover the voters we deliberately, and arrogantly, spurned, we will turn the Conservative Party into the 21st century version of the 20th century Liberal Party,' she said.

'And we can do better than being a collection of fanatical, irrelevant, centrist cranks, who make it our business to insult our should-be voters for not being as smug and self-righteous as we are.'

The former minister has denied reports she is considering defecting to Reform, after repeatedly attacking her Tory colleagues.

The Conservative Party is expected this week to set out a timetable and process for choosing Rishi Sunak's successor, after an election which left it with just 121 MPs.

Former security ministerTom Tugendhat has received the endorsem*nt of two prominent former Tory MPs in a boost to his hopes.

Damian Green and Steve Baker, who lost their seats in the July 4 election but are influential figures in the party, endorsed him in a joint article for The Telegraph.

Mr Baker is an ardent Brexiteer, and former leader of the European Research Group, while Mr Green was chairman of the One Nation Group of Tory moderates.

Those believed to be preparing leadership bids also include shadow communities secretary Kemi Badenoch, shadow home secretary James Cleverly, and former ministers Ms Braverman and Robert Jenrick, and former cabinet minister Dame Priti Patel.

The 1922 Committee of backbenchers will set the rules and timeline for the race to succeed Rishi Sunak. There have been divisions in the party over how long the contest should take.

In a Conservative Home survey of 995 Tory Party members last week, Mr Tugendhat polled at 13 per cent – in second place alongside Mr Jenrick, ahead of Ms Braverman (10 per cent) and Mr Cleverly (9 per cent).

Ms Badenoch polled first at 26 per cent, with Ms Patel in sixth with 3 per cent.

Lord Houchen todaycalled on the next Conservative Party leader to 'go back to basics'.

Speaking on Sky News's Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme, he refused to say who he would like to succeed Rishi Sunak, but said: 'The future of the Conservative Party is a tried and tested one. We lost our way over the last few years and we lost what has always made us a very successful party... what we lost is that general competence.

'What we need is a leader who can go back to basics, understand that we are there to serve the British people, understand that we have to have a sensible hold on economics, understand that people want, by and large, relatively low taxes, they want good services and they also want somebody they can trust and they also want a party that isn't going to fight like cats in a sack.'

When asked if it it would be good for the Tories to hear less from Ms Braverman, he replied: 'I issued an open letter to anybody that wants to stand in the leadership contest three things that I think this contest should be conducted in: One, it shouldn't be about the past, it should be about 'what is the offering for this country in the future?'

'Two, I think any leadership contender needs to rule out a partnership or a coalition or whatever relationship with Reform. They are a symptom of the problem. They are not the cause of the problem for the Conservative Party... and the third point is that there shouldn't be any blue-on-blue attacks.

'If we want to spend the next two, three, four, five months fighting with each other that goes to the cause of the election defeat just two weeks ago, and I would implore Suella, as well as every other leadership contender, to conduct this leadership contest with civility. Let's come together and let's offer a positive option to the country.'