The Tory leadership battle gathered pace today as favourite Kemi Badenoch formally launched her bid.
Ms Badenoch laid out a small-state vision for the party, complaining that in power it had ‘talked Right but governed Left’.
She cautioned that the Conservatives must be ready when Labour ‘fail’ and ‘run out of other people’s money’.
But Ms Badenoch also swiped at rivals Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat for offering ‘easy answers’ on immigration such as imposing hard caps on numbers.
Hopefuls are stepping up their campaigns with MPs set to whittle the field down from half a dozen to four over the next fortnight.
Former home secretary James Cleverly has laid out his goal of abolishing stamp duty – designed to appeal to the party rank and file.
In a speech, he vowed to revive the Rwanda deportation plan, but again dismissed a push from colleagues to leave the ECHR.
Allies of Mr Jenrick have been boasting that he is ‘nailed on’ to make the final two being put to a ballot of activists.
But the contest still has until November 2 to run, with complaints that the Conservatives are focused on infighting while Labour pushes through a slew of controversial policies.
Ms Badenoch accused Sir Keir Starmer’s administration of ‘trying to pull the wool over the eyes’ of voters on a raft of issues.
The shadow communities secretary told the packed room of journalists and supporters that ‘a government that tries to do everything will likely end up achieving nothing’.
‘This was one of our mistakes,’ she said. ‘We talked right but governed left, sounding like Conservatives but acting like Labour.
‘Government should do fewer things, but what it does, it should do with brilliance.’
Warning that the Tories must offer detailed solutions rather than soundbites, Ms Badenoch pointed out that David Cameron had tried to bring net annual long-term immigration below 100,000.
‘We need to ask ourselves, why didn’t that work, rather than just saying we’ll make another promise,’ she said.
She added: ‘It’s not just about throwing out numbers and throwing out targets. Something is wrong with the system. People who are throwing out numbers, and saying they will leave the ECHR and so on are giving you easy answers.’
Ms Badenoch said the public is already ‘yearning for something better’ after less than 60 days of Sir Keir in Downing Street.
Ms Badenoch took 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 slammed Sir Keir for stripping up to 10million pensioners of their winter fuel payments and for the civil service appointments ‘cronyism’ row engulfing the party.
‘The British people are yearning for something better, and this Labour Government is not it,’ she said.
‘They have no ideas. At best they are re-announcing things we have already done.’
At his own event, Mr Cleverly argued for a smaller state that does ‘fewer things very well, not everything badly’.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Mr Cleverly said stamp duty is a ‘bad tax’ and should be axed to help people on to the housing ladder.
MPs will hold their first round of voting on Wednesday, with the candidate with the least support knocked out.
Six MPs are battling it out to take over from Rishi Sunak.
Robert 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.
Ms Patel launched her campaign on Friday and Mr Tugendhat will do so tomorrow.
However, Mel Stride – seen by many as struggling to stay in the race – is expected to wait until after the first round of voting.
Mr Cleverly said: ‘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.’