MPs James Cleverly & Priti Patel standing to be Tory leader

Braintree MP James Cleverly and Witham MP Dame Priti Patel have both unveiled bids to become the next leader of the Tory party.

Mr Cleverly is the current Shadow Home Secretary and announced his candidacy last Tuesday on social media.

The video focused on the need to "regain people’s trust".

Standing - MP and shadow home secretary James Cleverly (Image: Joe Gidden/ PA Wire)

Mr Cleverly said: “We need to re-establish our reputation as the party, who in government, helps grow the economy, helps people achieve their goals, their dreams and their aspirations. 

Former Home Secretary Dame Priti announced her decision to stand yesterday (July 27) on X - formerly Twitter.

She said: “I am standing to be the new leader of the Conservative Party.

“We must unite to win.

“I can lead us in opposition and unite our party and get us match fit for the next election, with unity, experience and strength.”

She said she could deliver the "experienced and strong" leadership needed to unite the Tories' disparate factions, in an article for The Telegraph on Saturday.

As leader she would use the "huge talent pool...of Conservative Party members" to "solve the big challenges that Labour, the Lib Dems and Reform don't have answers to", she wrote.

She said the party was a "grassroots movement" that should work from from the bottom up rather than from the top down.

She wrote that "rebuilding trust with an electorate who have stopped listening to us will be tough" and that the party must "reflect honestly on what went wrong" while avoiding a "soap opera of finger-pointing and self-indulgence".

Mel Stride, Tom Tugenhat, and Robert Jenrick are also standing for the position.

Standing - Witham MP Dame Priti Patel (Image: PA)

Shadow Communities Secretary Kemi Badenoch, the bookmakers' favourite to succeed Rishi Sunak as PM, and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman are expected to put themselves forward before nominations close at 2.30pm on Monday.