Tory party installs ‘yellow card’ system to prevent in-fighting as six leadership candidates confirmed

The Conservative Party has put in place a “yellow card” system to prevent in-fighting during its leadership race, with the six candidates in the running to replace Rishi Sunak being confirmed on Monday.

Mr Sunak resigned in the wake of his party’s poor result at the general election but will stay on as an interim leader until his successor is decided.

Kemi Badenoch, Priti Patel, Robert Jenrick, Mel Stride, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly have all received the 10 nominations necessary to enter the race, chair of the 1922 Committee Bob Blackman confirmed.

He said the party wants a “good clean contest”, unveiling the “yellow card system”, which will see candidates publicly reprimanded if they launch personal attacks on one another.

The 1922 committee chair said: “We want a good clean contest between the candidates nominated. The constant backfighting and attacking was one of the contributing reasons why the party did so badly at the general election. We are determined we will not tolerate that.”

He added: “There is a difference between vigorous debate and attacking individuals”.

If a candidate receives a “yellow card” the 1922 committee will issue a statement saying the rules of the contest have been infringed – but the individual involved will not be barred from the contest.

Mr Blackman said he believes such a statement would be “extremely detrimental” to their campaigns.

The six candidates will campaign over the summer, before a series of parliamentary hustings are held to narrow them down to just four.

The four candidates, who will be announced on the week commencing the September 9, will then make their case to party members at the Conservative Party Conference, which will involve a number of hustings and other campaign events.

There will be further hustings on October 8 and October 10 – both of which will be followed by ballots of MPs.

The final two candidates, who will be announced on October 10, will then go head-to-head in a vote of party members.

The ballot will close on October 31, with the winner of the leadership contest set to be announced on November 2.

Former home secretary Suella Braverman was expected to stand in the contest but she pulled out of the race over the weekend, saying the “traumatised” party was refusing to acknowledge the truth about why they lost the general election.

She claimed she had secured the backing of the 10 MPs required to enter the race but said she decided against standing after being “vilified” for her views.

Ms Badenoch became the sixth MP to join the race on Sunday, saying it is time for the party to change.

Writing in the Times, she explained: “The country will not vote for us if we don’t know who we are or what we want to be.

“That is why I am seeking the leadership of the Conservative Party to renew our movement and, with the support of the British people, to get it to work for our country again.”

“My campaign is launching with an explicit focus on renewing our party for 2030 – the first full year we can be back in government and the first year of a new decade.”