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

James Cleverly has opened up about growing up in the UK as a mixed race kid.

He told the conference: “My mum came here from Sierra Leone in the 1960s and my father grew up on a council estate in Downham in south east London. He qualified as a surveyor and started a small business.

“She studied nursing and became a midwife in the NHS and I’m gutted that she didn’t live to see me elected and become an MP, or represent our country as foreign secretary when I visited Sierra Leone.

“Some people love to talk our country down. But this country has given so much to so many people, including my family.”

James Cleverly has issued an apology to members of the Tory party following the party’s brutal election defeat in July.

He urged the party to avoid complacency, warning against “wallowing in self-pity” after Labour’s landslide victory.

Mr Cleverly said: “There is something we need to say: sorry. Sorry on behalf of the Conservative parliamentary party who let you down. And we have to be better, much better. And under my leadership, we will be.”

“The British people are never wrong”, he told members, saying voters told the party “go and sort ourselves out”.

“Let’s not make them tell us again”, Mr Cleverly added.

“If we wallow in self-pity and blame other parties, if we look backwards instead of forwards, if we focus on what we are against rather than what we are for, if we’re complacent and just wait for the political pendulum to swing back to us, we might as well go home now.”

The applause for Tugendhat has been gradually getting more muted and polite as he went through his speech, David Maddox writes from the conference.

So there were chuckles when near the end he said” I know you’ve had enough and so have I.”

Fortunately, he wound up quickly afterwards with a pleasingly loud applause and cheer.

Tory leadership hopeful has told party members that he is a leader not a manager.

Tom Tugendhat said: “I get it, you’ve had enough. And so have I. But in this leadership election you have a choice. And it’s a choice about change.

“My opponents claim that they’ve got more management experience around the Cabinet table. Sure, that’s true. But I’m not here to manage, I’m here to lead.

“The only way to build trust back is to show real change. And that’s the new conservative revolution that I promise. That’s the change only I can deliver. That’s the change only I will bring.”

Ending his speech, he said: “Our mission is the prosperity and happiness of the British people - and we start today.”

Tom Tugendhat has used his final speech to attack Labour and socialism as a whole.

In his final speech, he said: “We are building on the strong foundations of the past and I’m standing because I believe in Britain.

“I have fought for Britain and I have had enough of those who want to manage decline. That’s what socialism delivers.

“It’s not who I am, it’s not who you are and nothing is more fatal to a mission than losing faith in the future. Nothing is more fatal to success than setting our ambition so low that we don’t even try. And nothing is more fatal to a nation than giving up on our belief in it.

“That’s why we must win. Not in 10 years, not in 15, but in five. We can’t afford Labour, the country can’t afford socialism, we can’t afford to wait. And I will not wait. It’s time to seize the moment and turn this around.”

Now, moving on migration, Tom Tugendhat has suggested that he will set a 1000,00 migration cap if he becomes the new face of the opposition.

He said: “We must solve as well as stop, which is why I’ll set a legal cap on migration of 100,000, not a target, not an ambition, but a cap.

“This is about visas, not about foreign courts. Let me tell you something my opponents probably won’t.

“This isn’t simple. We issued the visas because businesses need the staff for our care homes and our hospitals, to look after our families.”

Tom Tugendhat has blamed bureaucrats for failings in the NHS, warning the health service is “not the envy of the world”.

Saying Britain needs to be honest about the state of the NHS, he told the Tory party conference that health services in Australia and Europe have “better cancer outcomes and access to doctors”.

“For our families to stay fit... we need the best healthcare”, the former security minister said.

He added: “Let’s be honest, our health service is not the envy of the world. Our doctors and our nurses are fantastic but the bureaucrats in charge slowed down their ability to deliver.

“We need to strip away excess regulations and barriers and put the patient at the centre of care.”

During his final conference speech, Tom Tugendhat said: “Real growth, not the illusion of growth that has been boosted by migration, has barely shifted in the past 30 years. Now that’s left us poorer and more vulnerable. We need to free the economy.

“We need a new conservative revolution. That’s what Margaret Thatcher did, that’s what we need to do again and we can do it.”

The shadow security secretary has hailed the work of current and former Tory metro mayors Lord Houchen and Andy Street.

He added: “They focused on delivery not ideology, they understand that Britain needs leaders who just get it done because Conservative leadership changes lives.”

Labour is taking Britain back to the 1970s, Tom Tugendhat has claimed, arguing the government is “trashing hopes and dreams”, Millie Cooke reports from the conference.

Referencing the freebies row which has engulfed the Labour Party in recent weeks, the Tory leadership contender said: “When Keir Starmer thinks of service he thinks of free tickets to Taylor Swift. Now friends, that tells you everything you need to know.”

“Labour have told us who they are. They’re rudderless, selfish and greedy, they’re taking us back to the 1970s and the politics of division - socialism, higher taxes, more regulation, more control.

“The lowest common denominator, trashing hopes and dreams. Conference, we have to fight to rescue our country”, he said.