Governor of Florida and ex-presidential hopeful praises ‘courageous’ former trade secretary
Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida and former Republican presidential hopeful, has backed Kemi Badenoch in the race to become the next Tory leader.
He declares that she “flies the flag of bold colours” of conservatism and praised her for being “strong” and “courageous”.
The pair worked together on a trade deal between Florida and the UK when Mrs Badenoch was trade secretary.
In a video filmed for her campaign, Mr DeSantis said: “Our president Ronald Reagan once said that we need to stand for bold colours, not pale pastels.
“Kemi flies the flag of bold colours, just like we do in Florida, just like you will do again in the United Kingdom.”
He added: “I’m pleased to endorse Kemi Badenoch for Conservative Party leader. She and I worked on a great trade agreement between Florida and the United Kingdom.
“She has a commitment to conservative principles, she’s strong, she’s courageous and she will be an inspiration for conservatives not just in the United Kingdom, but all across the world.”
Mr DeSantis withdrew from the Republican primary race in January and endorsed Donald Trump against the remaining contender at the time, Nikki Haley.
The endorsement comes ahead of the third and fourth rounds of MP voting next week in the leadership contest, which will see two of Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat and Mrs Badenoch knocked out.
The shadow housing secretary came second to Mr Jenrick, with 28 votes to his 33, with James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat trailing in the last voting round.
There will be MP ballots on both Tuesday and Wednesday of next week that will see the candidates whittled down to three and then the final two who will be put before the members.
Mrs Badenoch’s speech in Birmingham on Wednesday rounded off a mixed performance at Conservative Party conference, after she became embroiled in a row over comments about maternity pay.
Speaking to Times Radio on Sunday, she said that regulations around the benefit had “gone too far” and were tying businesses in too much red tape. She has since said her comments were taken out of context.
But her speech, well-received by those in the auditorium, was followed by the endorsement of Tory grandee Sir David Davis, who has described it as a “rallying cry for our party”.
Writing for The Telegraph, Sir David urged his MP colleagues: “No voting for friends. No supporting the person whom we want to go for a drink with.
“No being swayed by the lobby about the amount of clapping after one speech. No simplistic answers to complex questions. No wishing away the hard decisions our party will need to make to stand even a remote chance to return.
“The choices we make in the next four days will determine whether we have a chance in the next four years.”
‘Less headline-grabbing promises’
Meanwhile, James Cleverly has warned that the Conservatives cannot rely on the performance of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour to guarantee them back into office,
He has told colleagues that they cannot “rely on buyers’ remorse” and that “no amount of Starmer’s speedy failure alone” can bring former Tory voters back.
“We must demonstrate to people why they can trust us. That means less headline-grabbing promises, and more honesty.
“We need to be the best possible version of ourselves, to give people a reason to get out and vote for us instead of giving Labour one more chance or moving over to Reform. We cannot just wait for the pendulum to swing back to us,” he added.
Cautioning against “complacency”, Mr Cleverly told the party: “It was just the political pendulum swinging against us, they said.
“The argument then goes that, as all pendulums do, the political fortunes will swing back in our direction if we just wait.”
He added: “And Labour’s failure is on fast-forward, so we may not have to wait as long as we thought for that swing.”
More moderate candidate
Mr Cleverly is seen as one of the more moderate candidates remaining in the race, and his performance at party conference saw him leap ahead as the preferred leader among voters.
Polling by Opinium found that 32 per cent of the population believed that Mr Cleverly was the most “preferred or acceptable option”.
This jumped to almost half (49 per cent) of 2019 Conservative voters, in a boost to his campaign.
He had come joint third in the previous round of MP votes, with he and Mr Tugendhat receiving 21 votes apiece.
Meanwhile, Mrs Badenoch was seen as the most unacceptable candidate among Tory voters (28 per cent) in the wake of the party conference.
But it was Mr Jenrick who was considered the most unacceptable Conservative leader among all voters.
