James Cleverly has said his wife had a ‘veto’ on whether he ran for the Conservative Party leadership, after she went through ‘hell and back’ fighting breast cancer.
In a moving interview with The Mail on Sunday, Mr Cleverly revealed the couple ‘made the decision together’ after lengthy walks in the Essex meadows with their dogs.
In 2021, Susie Cleverly was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 49. This summer she marked two years of being cancer-free after successful treatment, which her husband said leaves him ‘eternally grateful’ to the NHS.
Mr Cleverly said: ‘She gets a veto on my political career’, and described the mother of his two sons as ‘unbelievably formidable’ and ‘inspirational’.
He was keen to stress that, unlike some of his former colleagues, he did not spend his time in government positioning to succeed Rishi Sunak: ‘I didn’t plan to run.’
But after ‘thrashing out’ the options with Susie, they concluded he was ‘best placed’ to take on Sir Keir Starmer’s government.
As a former Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and party chairman, he is one of the most experienced of the six candidates. He cut his teeth working with Boris Johnson in City Hall and remained loyal to him even in his last days in Downing Street.
They keep in touch, he said, had lunch not long before the election and ‘we have chatted since’.
Has Boris given him advice about winning the race? ‘Of course we talk about the nature of leadership’, he said, but added: ‘Private conversations are private.’
Asked if he would have the former Prime Minister in his Cabinet, as his rival Robert Jenrick says he would, he said: ‘Why not?’
The Braintree MP was quick to tear apart his successors’ early days in office. The unions have ‘humiliated’ Starmer and shown him to be ‘naive’ about negotiating, he said.
Referring to the train drivers’ union, Aslef, announcing fresh strikes within hours of its members being handed a 14.25 per cent pay rise, he said: Labour ‘have been played’ and Starmer is ‘the worst negotiator’.
His team have commissioned a poll asking voters which characteristics they want to see most in their next leader. Top of the list are ‘integrity’, closely followed by being a ‘normal person who is relatable’.
What is the most normal thing about him, I asked?
He described being an ‘open book’ to voters, having survived many broadcast interviews. ‘I don’t pretend to be perfect but people know what they get.’ He added that politics is a job where ‘your life gets a bit weird – on Saturdays I don’t get to push a trolley around the supermarket, because I go to community events, I visit businesses.’
His ideal Friday night, he said, is ‘watching a film with Susie and the boys, a glass of wine. My favourite film is Blade Runner, but Susie likes a rom-com.’
Down time also includes walking his border terriers – Coco and Bea – although until recently this involved being trailed by ‘two armed police officers ten to 15 yards behind me’.
Mr Cleverly said he still gets up at 6.30am and is busy with the leadership campaign, based in an office in King’s Cross. Here, he said, he hopes to bring about a ‘reset’ in his party and turn it into an effective Opposition. ‘We need to get our act together and do so real quick,’ he said.
‘We can’t afford to get it wrong.’