Tory leadership favourite Kemi Badenoch will today launch her campaign with a blistering attack on the ‘clueless, irresponsible and dishonest’ Labour government.
The former Business Secretary will use a speech in Westminster to accuse Sir Keir Starmer’s administration of ‘trying to pull the wool over the eyes’ of voters on a raft of issues.
She is also expected to insist that Labour will ‘fail’ and that the public is already ‘yearning for something better’ after less than 60 days of Sir Keir in Downing Street.
Former Home Secretary James Cleverly will simultaneously launch his campaign with an address centred more around policy and principles.
He will insist that only ‘Conservative solutions’ can solve the challenges facing Britain while arguing for a smaller state that does ‘fewer things very well, not everything badly.’
Last night, Mr Cleverly said he will get rid of stamp duty. Writing in The Daily Telegraph, he said the ‘bad tax’ should be abolished to get more buyers on the housing ladder.
It comes as Tory MPs prepare for the first round of voting on Wednesday, when the contender with the least support among the parliamentary party will be knocked out.
Six MPs are battling it out to be crowned the next party boss.
They are Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly, Priti Patel, Mel Stride, Tom Tugendhat and Ms Badenoch.
Ms Patel launched her campaign on Friday and Mr Tugendhat will do so tomorrow.
Mr Jenrick launched his campaign a month ago, but gave another speech in London yesterday in which he warned Labour was preparing ‘a declaration of war on the middle classes’ in next month’s budget with tax hikes.
Ms Badenoch will take aim at Labour for being ‘dishonest’ about the state of the UK finances, having signed off more than £10billion in public sector pay hikes.
She will also slam them for stripping up to 10million pensioners of their winter fuel payments and for the civil service appointments ‘cronyism’ row engulfing the party.
She is expected to say: ‘The British people are yearning for something better, and this Labour Government is not it.
‘They have no ideas. At best they are re-announcing things we have already done.
‘And at their worst they are clueless, irresponsible and dishonest: trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the British public about the state of the UK finances, placing political donors into civil service jobs, and pretending they had no plans to cut pensioner benefits before the election – and now doing so to cover the cost of pay rises for the unions with no promise of reform.
‘Their model of spend, spend, spend is broken and they don’t know what to do.’
But she will acknowledge that the Conservatives can’t ‘just sit around pointing out how terrible Labour are’, adding: ‘We have to focus on renewal. The renewal of our party, our politics, and our thinking.’
In a speech also in London, Mr Cleverly will say: ‘An unstable world, global migration, and a crisis of confidence in capitalism.
‘We must get our act together as a party to provide the Conservative solutions to these problems. The solutions of the Left don’t and won’t work.
‘That means being honest and realistic about the role of the state. About what it should and can do, and what it should not and can not.
‘The state should focus on doing fewer things very well, not everything badly.’
He will add: ‘We accomplished much in Government, but our division and behaviour obscured the victories and compounded the mistakes.
‘I will tackle the problems in front of us with Conservative solutions, and make the UK the greatest power in Europe.
‘Strong in defence of our people, our allies, and our values on the international stage. With security and prosperity at home.’
Tory MPs will vote to reduce the candidates to the final two by October 10, with the party membership deciding the winner in a poll.
The winner will be announced on November 2, replacing Rishi Sunak.