Tory chairman urges leadership candidates to get behind eventual winner

Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat are vying to replace Rishi Sunak and are seeking the support from MPs and members at the Tory conference this week in Birmingham.

Richard Fuller, the interim chairman of the party, has said he, the shadow chief whip and the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs were “very clear” at the start of the contest that there should be “no blue-on-blue” attacks between the candidates and campaigns.

Speaking to Times Radio on Monday morning, Mr Fuller said: “Each of them should stop and think about… they want to lead a party, would they want all of their colleagues who are unsuccessful – should they be elected – to go off into their own corners, or would they want them to come in behind them as leader?

“And I think when they do stop and think they’ll realise that they should be all on one team.”

On Sunday, leadership contender Ms Badenoch said that “of course” she believes in maternity pay after she faced a backlash – including from other leadership candidates –  for comments she made on the radio.

Speaking to Times Radio, the shadow communities secretary appeared to describe statutory maternity pay as “a function of tax”, and said: “Tax comes from people who are working – we’re taking from one group of people and giving to another. This, in my view, is excessive.”

She later wrote on social media: “Contrary to what some have said, I clearly said the burden of regulation on businesses had gone too far … of course I believe in maternity pay!”

Outgoing leader Mr Sunak has kept a low profile at the conference, but when he addressed members at a reception on Sunday evening he also called for unity, and warned that the Tories will face further defeats if they do not unite after the leadership contest.

He said: “We must end the division, the backbiting, the squabbling. We must not nurse old grudges but build new friendships.

“We must always remember what unites us rather than obsess over where we might differ, because when we turn in on ourselves we lose and the country ends up with a Labour Government.”

The new leader is due to be announced on November 2, after the field is whittled down to two in October.

The timetable means that the leader will not be in place for the Budget at the end of next month.

Mr Fuller said on Monday morning that there will be “no change” to the timetable.

He told BBC Breakfast: “We had this debate some months ago. I think we had a very long discussion between the voluntary party and the 1922 Committee, which represents MPs.

“The 1922 Committee wanted a longer campaign. They wanted to have four candidates here at conference.

“And the logistics of that mean that, when we whittle it down to two and it goes to the members, there’s a period of time for the members to vote, and my job is to make sure that members have enough time to get their ballot papers and return their ballot papers, and that’s why we ended up with the time frame we have.”

Former prime minister Liz Truss is also expected to make an appearance at the conference on Monday.

Ms Truss is due at an in-conversation event at lunchtime.

The last conference the Conservatives held in Birmingham in 2022 was dominated by in-fighting in the wake of her ill-fated mini-budget.