James Cleverly sends brutal Brexit dig to Nigel Farage and vows to crush his Reform party
James Cleverly will use the final day of the Conservative Party conference to send a swipe at Nigel Farage’s Reform.
James Cleverly will deliver a speech tomorrow (Image: Getty)
The former Home Secretary will remind the Tory faithful that it was their party who delivered Brexit and it was under his spell as Home Secretary that immigration numbers were cut.
Mr Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badneoch and Tom Tugendhat will each give 20-minute speeches on the final day of the Conservative Party Conference tomorrow.
They are hoping to replace Rishi Sunak as leader of the Tories on November 2.
Speaking in Birmingham, Mr Cleverly is set to say: “Everyone running needs to ask themselves do they want to be the leader or do they want to lead? I know what I want to do.
“I want to get the heel of the state off your neck, get their noses out of your business, and their hands out of your pocket.”
He is hoping to set out his vision for a “positive and optimistic Conservatism” following the bruising Tory defeat at the general election on July 4.
Mr Cleverly plans to “talk up” Conservative values and add that the only way for the Conservatives to beat Reform is to be the “best version of the Conservative Party”.
Nigel Farage’s Reform will feature in the speech (Image: Getty)
The former Foreign Secretary will say: “Let’s be enthusiastic; relatable; positive; optimistic.
“Let’s sell the benefits of a Conservative government with a smile. We will not win back voters by pretending to be something we’re not. We win back voters by being honest, by being professional, by being Conservative.
“Never forget – Reform didn’t deliver Brexit, we did. Reform didn’t cut immigration, I did. And mark my words, we will beat Reform by being the best version of ourselves.
“If we are the best version of ourselves, if we sell Conservative values, are proud of our record and confident in our future, we will win the country.”
A poll of Tory members shows that Mr Jenrick is within touching distance of Mrs Badenoch after a surge in his support.
The latest YouGov survey suggested there is a path to victory for all four candidates, although Mr Tugendhat faces a bigger hurdle than the rest.
Members would choose Mrs Badenoch by 52% to Mr Jenrick’s 48%, only a four-point lead, according to the poll of 802 Tory members conducted over nine days to Sunday night.
Mrs Badenoch and Mr Jenrick came out as the top two in the contest after the early rounds of voting.
Next week, MPs will reduce the number of contenders to two.
Taking to the main stage in Birmingham tomorrow, Mr Jenrick will say: “The truth is this.
If we’re to tackle the immense challenges we face, if we’re to restore the public’s trust, we must build something new. A new Conservative Party. That is what I call for today. Nothing less than, A New Conservative Party built on the rock of our oldest values and best traditions.”
Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick are frontrunners to replace Rishi Sunak (Image: Getty)
He will call for a rejection of mass migration, focus on cheap, reliable energy, public sector reform and to build a more united country.
Mr Tugendhat will use his leadership speech to promise the nation that he will make them proud to vote Conservative again at the next election.
In a pitch to the party and nation, he is expected to say: “The Conservative Party’s brand is significantly damaged and the general election saw record levels of Conservative voters staying at home.”
He will add: I’ve had enough of Westminster’s political games, petty point scoring, and self-service. It’s not becoming of our great party or our great nation. We can do better. I am standing because what we need is leadership. I am standing to lead not just this party but to be the next Conservative prime minister of this great country.”
Meanwhile Mrs Badenoch will talk about her plans to dismantle the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown framework of increasing social, economic and legal control.
She will say that “the truth is the left never left”.
The former Business Secretary is expected to add: “The Conservatives have to be the party of wealth creation. Wealth is not a dirty word. It supports jobs and families. It pays for our schools, for our health service. We should encourage it.”
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Labour’s failing plan to end small boats crisis to cost taxpayers billions – warning
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (Image: Getty)
Labour’s failing plan to end the Channel migrant crisis will cost taxpayers billions over the coming years, critics have declared.
Sir Keir Starmer was accused of planning to reopen hotels – with asylum seekers set to be housed in taxpayer-funded rooms for up to three years.
There are nearly 30,000 asylum seekers living in more than 250 hotels at a cost of £4.2 million per day – £1.53 billion per year.
By contrast, the universal winter fuel payments for pensioners costs around £1.5 billion each year.
Labour had hoped to “end asylum hotels” within a year, but sources have warned the backlog of cases is “much worse than we thought”.
They added: “It’s going to take a lot longer to clear than we anticipated. It certainly won’t be cleared in a year.”
But a Conservative source who worked in the Home Office accused Labour of “lying”, adding: “The stats are published quarterly.
“What they didn’t anticipate was that their lack of plan to actually do anything to stop the people smugglers would actually make things worse, and that’s on them.”
The revelation angered the Tories and Reform UK, with former Home Secretary James Cleverly warning Labour is “preparing to reopen asylum hotels”.
He added: “Why? Because they scrapped Rwanda, have no plan and over 11,000 illegal migrants have crossed the Channel since Labour took office”.
Former Home Secretary Dame Priti Patel added: “Without the deterrent and use of third country asylum processing, pressure continues to grow on our asylum system.
“This Labour government has no plan to deal with this issue and continues to fail by exposing taxpayers to higher costs, more hotel use and cause more strain on housing as they push asylum seekers onto local councils.
“Despite all their facile rhetoric, this Government has failed to grip this issue.
“All the options to reform the asylum system were outlined in the New Plan for Immigration from processing cases to removing failed asylums seekers to a third country.”
Tory leadership frontrunner Robert Jenrick added: “Starmer pledged to ‘end asylum hotels’.
“But he scrapped rather than strengthened the Rwanda plan. And in the 88 days he’s been PM, 11,000 illegal migrants have come.
“It’s no surprise then that, under Starmer, we’ll be spending billions on these hotels for years to come.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “The migrant hotels will stay open for years.
“I have no doubt even more will be needed. Starmer has no real plan and the boats will keep coming.”
Some 29,585 migrants were in hotels, as of June. An additional 61,778 were in dispersal accommodation – small rented homes and former student accommodation.
This was down from a peak of 56,042 in 398 hotels in September last year, which was costing more than £8 million per day.”
Ms Cooper had hoped to clear the backlog of 87,217 claims awaiting initial decision within a year to 18 months.
But an additional 137,525 claims are awaiting the outcome of appeals or involve pending removals from the UK.
This is preventing the government from clearing the overall asylum backlog of 224,742 claims.
Mr Jenrick said net migration in recent years “has put immense pressure on housing, it’s undercut the wages of British workers and it has made our country less united”.
A Labour source said: “We have inherited a completely failed immigration system from the Tories. Including them spending over £700 million on Rwanda, and gimmicks that didn’t work. We’re working on clearing down the backlog they left behind, they clearly did nothing at all in the months before the election. The numbers speak for themselves.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will use a two-day G7 summit to press for more action to tackle people smugglers.
She said: “The perpetrators of the vile trade of migrant smuggling have no concern about the security of national borders or the safety of the people they exploit.
“This is a global challenge and working in collaboration with our closest partners is critical.
“We have taken decisive action in the UK already – through the formation of our Border Security Command, backed by a recent investment of £75m, and the appointment of its Commander. This meeting will be an invaluable opportunity to work internationally to crackdown on this cross border network of dangerous criminality.”
