UK politics live: Starmer pays back £6,000 in gifts amid donations row as Lord Alli faces interest probe

Robert Jenrick has said leaving the European Convention on Human Rights would be the first steo to “secure our borders”.

The former immigration secretary has promised Tory members to leave the convention and “finish what we started with Brexit”.

He added: “Under my leadership the new Conservative Party will stand for a new Great Reform Act, one that leaves the ECHR, repeals Tony Blair’s Human Rights Act and writes a British Bill of Rights.”

Robert Jenrick has declared his mission if he becomes the new leader of the Tories; to build a new Conservative party.

He told the audience: “If we are going to change this party, if we are going to restore the trust and confidence of our people, we are going to have to build something new - a new Conservative Party.

“That is what I call for today – a new Conservative party, nothing less than that, built on the rock of our proudest traditions and noblest values, but a new Conservative party.”

But the attack on Labour doesn’t end here. Robert Jenrick has also targeted the rest of Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet.

The former minister said Rachel Reeves was “as wooden as Pinocchio”, adding: “Anyone who tells you the grownups are back in charge, look at Ed Miliband, a Wallace missing his Gromit.”

Attacking Sir Keir Starmer, Robert Jenrick has slammed the prime minister’s policies of the last months.

During his keynote speech, he said: “Who is Sir Keir Starmer in politics for?

“Well, the last three months have shown us who: convicted criminals walking free, illegal migrants given an amnesty, well-paid train drivers given yet more money, all the while the hard-working silent majority waiting for huge tax rises, the nation’s wealth creators fleeing en masse and millions of pensioners betrayed.

“Imagine, imagine friends, imagine how cowardly you have to be to rob poor pensioners just to placate your union paymasters.”

Robert Jenrick has said he wants to transform the Conservative party into a “pressure group for hard-working majority”.

Describing the reason he is in politics, he added: “I am in politics for the millions of people in our country just like [his parents], devoted citizens, good neighbors, the people who get up early in the morning to put food on the table for their families, yes, the people who start small businesses around their kitchen tables, the people for whom there is no pressure group pressing their case, no lobby demanding their so called rights.

“So let me tell you, if I am your leader, the pressure group for Britain’s hard working majority will be us, the Conservative party.”

Robert Jenrick talks about the changes the Tories made in 1974 with a change of leadership bringing in Margaret Thatcher which delivered victory five years later, David Maddox writes from the conference.

Unfortunately for him Thatcher did not become leader until 1975...

Following a campaign video about Robert Jenrick, the Tory leadership contender starts his speech.

He told the conference “it’s great to be here, it’s great to be home”, reminding members that he grew up in Wolverhampton.

The former minister said: “Fifty years ago in 1974, my dad Bill and my mum Jennie came here to Birmingham.

“Dad got a job at the last great iron foundry of the Black Country in Cosley. It was a vast Victorian metalface that had made the pots and the pans of the empire. It was called Cannon Industries because it had made the cannon for Wellington’s Army. My dad loved that.

Attacking Labour, he added: “Mum and dad came here to the West Midlands to put down roots, to get on in life, but their dreams were put on hold. Britain was broken, industries were crippled, councils were bankrupt, hope had gone.

“Then as now a new Labour government, so fresh but already so stale. And what about us? What about the Conservatives in opposition?”

James Cleverly got a much louder applause than Tugendhat after his speech.

But it was a shout from an audience member as he left that caught the ear. “Crown the emperor!” shouted the man.

Nobody was sure if he meant Cleverly had no clothes (metaphorically at least).

James Cleverly has promised to “deliver for the British people” and “unite the party around Conservative values”.

He said: “I can hold Labour to account for their failures and take us back into Government in four short years. Because the people in this room standing for election in May can’t wait a day longer than is necessary for us to get our house in order. There is no time to lose and I don’t lose.”

Ending his speech, he added: “Let’s unite, let’s rebuild this party of ours council by council, seat by seat, ward by ward, street by street, one party with one purpose. To turn the page on this useless Labour Government, to get to government, to look to the future with one voice and say that it is morning once again in this great country of ours.

“That must be our mission. That must be our purpose. So join me on this journey, and together we will win and we will be in the business of the future. Thank you.”

James Cleverly appeared to target fellow Tory candidate Robert Jenrick over immigration.

The former home secretary said: “I didn’t complain about immigration or walk away from the challenge, I got it down by 300,000 people a year. I deported foreign criminals and terrorists.”

Mr Jenrick has previously criticised Rishi Sunak over his approach on migration and the Rwanda deportation scheme. He eventually resigned as immigration minister.

He added: “I stripped citizenship from those who seek to do us harm and I supported our Jewish community here in the UK, tightening the policing response to the protests about Gaza and holding the police accountable for their actions and their inactions.”