Tory Reform Group declines to endorse either leadership candidate amid fears lurch to the right could split party
The final two Conservative leadership candidates, Kemi Badenoch (left) and Robert Jenrick, ‘focused on issues which are far and away from the party at its best’, the TRG said. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty Images
The main Conservative centrist group will not endorse Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick in the Tory leadership race amid concern the party risks splitting in a lurch to the right.
In a strongly worded statement, the Tory Reform Group (TRG), seen as the main forum for one-nation Conservatives, condemned Badenoch and Jenrick for having “used rhetoric and focused on issues which are far and away from the party at its best”.
The TRG had sought to liaise with all those standing for leader, it said, but: “Unfortunately, we have been consistently disappointed by the lack of engagement from the two candidates chosen by MPs.”
There is particular worry among some Conservatives that Jenrick’s promise to immediately pull the UK out of the European convention on human rights (ECHR) so as to be able to expel asylum seekers, a plan he reiterated in a speech on Thursday, could risk splitting the party.
There are also concerns that a pitch to voters aimed mainly at countering Reform UK over immigration or culture wars could repel former Conservative voters who defected to the Liberal Democrats in large numbers in July’s election.
One MP said they had been dismayed by the final two candidates, from whom party members will now select a winner in a postal ballot, with the result to be announced on 2 November.
“The sound you can hear in the background is the barrel being scraped,” they said. “We have a choice of an ECHR one-trick pony, who believes our special forces murder people, and an anti-woke one-trick pony who picks endless fights. As a choice, it’s shit.
“If they make the Liz Truss mistake of packing their frontbench with supporters, rather than reaching out to the wider party, then there really could be a split.”
One former minister said: “Really, this is all a consequence of Rishi’s disastrous election – the tiny electorate, many of them incredibly inexperienced, meant tiny margins could make huge differences.
“Hopefully, there will be more gaffes to show people the difference between the candidates, so we at least get the least bad option. But it’s all very bleak.”
Answering questions after a speech in London, Jenrick denied his ideological journey from centrist remain backer to seeking a near-end to net migration suggested he was inauthentic He said: “My values haven’t changed. What has changed is exposure to the realities on the ground.”
Asked how he would keep the party united given disquiet about his views on the ECHR, Jenrick insisted his campaign “represents all the traditions of our party”, given support from some centrist Tories such as Victoria Atkins, one of the TRG’s patrons.
Liam Walker, an Oxfordshire councillor and campaign manager for the party in Witney, the once ultra-safe Tory seat represented by David Cameron that was lost to the Liberal Democrats in July, said he hoped Jenrick and Badenoch would not just try to occupy Reform territory.
“I am a bit concerned,” he said. “The centre ground is where we win elections, and it’s where we managed to more or less wipe out the Lib Dems here in the past. This feels like a lurch to the right. Immigration is an issue among voters here but it’s fair to say that leaving the ECHR isn’t really something that comes up on the doorstep.”
Some centrist Tories believe Badenoch, who has boxed herself in slightly less with specific policy promises, could be better placed to ease their concerns.
Another former minister said: “If Kemi now speaks out on housing, health and the economy, which are the most salient issues affecting people and on which she has much positive to say, then that will do a lot to help persuade members who fear a mad lurch to the right.”
