Conservative leadership candidate says he would be ‘delighted’ for eliminated rival to join his shadow cabinet
Robert Jenrick said he wanted the Conservative party to occupy ‘the common ground of British politics’. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters
The Conservative leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick has made a pitch to the centre of his party, saying he would be “delighted” for James Cleverly to join the shadow cabinet.
Cleverly, a centrist, was eliminated from the race on Wednesday, leaving the party with a choice between Kemi Badenoch and Jenrick, both on the populist right.
The Tory Reform Group, which represents many one nation Conservatives, said on Thursday it could not endorse either Badenoch or Jenrick.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday, Jenrick said: “I’ve already said to James, who is a friend, someone I respect enormously, that I would be delighted for him to serve in the shadow cabinet, should he want to do so.”
Jenrick came just behind Badenoch in the most recent vote. Moderate Conservatives are said to be so dismayed at the remaining candidates that they are considering spoiling their ballots.
One Cleverly supporter claimed to the Telegraph that they had been told by a dozen members that they would now be putting their votes “in the bin”.
When asked about a report in the i newspaper suggesting that Jenrick had told a Cleverly supporter he would rein in his rightwing polemic and promised a “turn to the centre”, the former immigration minister claimed: “I haven’t said that.” However, he then went on to speak about his desire to represent the “common ground” of politics.
“There are those who say that the Conservative party, were I to lead, it, is going to shift to the right. I actually don’t see these labels as at all relevant,” he said. “What I want to see is the Conservative party occupy what I describe as the common ground of British politics. Those are the things that millions of our fellow citizens care about. Most people do not consider themselves left or right.”
It became clear in the interview that a potential shadow cabinet offer to Cleverly was not without complication. When asked if Cleverly could be in his team if he did not support leaving the European convention on human rights, Jenrick sidestepped the question. He said: “I don’t think the point of difference is as big as perhaps you suggest it is,” and he would replace the ECHR with a British bill of rights.
When pushed again on whether Cleverly would have to support the ECHR exit to join the shadow cabinet, Jenrick said: “It would be one of our policies as a party.”
