Tom Tugendhat and Robert Jenrick join Tory leadership race as James Cleverly leads with MP endorsements - live

Tom Tugendhat has promised to rebuild voters’ trust in the Conservative Party if he becomes the new leader.

The MP for Tonbridge told Sky News: “It went incredibly badly for the Conservative Party and many people chose any party but us.

“We need to rebuild that trust.”

He added: “My pitch is very simple, we have lost the trust of British people because we have failed to deliver.

“And we need to focus on delivering for the British people. Over the past few years I’ve demonstrated in operations in the military, in Afghanistan and Iraq that I’m able to deliver and I am able to stand up against authoritarian dictators. That track record of deliver is absolutely essential to rebuild that trust.”

Tom Tugendhat has joined James Cleverly in publicly declaring his candidacy in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative Party leader.

There will potentially be a crowded field in the contest as Mr Cleverly acknowledged he was not the only one giving it “serious thought” ahead of nominations opening on Wednesday evening.

Mr Sunak, who led the Tories to their worst general election result, will remain as leader until a successor is appointed.

The winner will be announced on November 2. Here are the key contenders to watch:

• James Cleverly
• James Cleverly
• Kemi Badenoch
• Suella Braverman
• Dame Priti Patel
• Robert Jenrick
• Mel Stride

Tom Tugendhat has become the second senior Tory to announce a leadership bid, indicating he would be prepared to quit the European Convention on Human Rights to protect the UK’s borders.

The shadow security minister, who joined James Cleverly in publicly declaring his leadership ambitions, insisted he could lead the Conservatives to victory at the next general election.

Launching his leadership campaign in the Telegraph he denied the party would be split by a divisive contest, because on key issues including the ECHR, gender, taxes, defence and net zero all Tories shared the same “common sense” views.

Tom Tugendhat said he had been surprised by Liz Truss’s recklessness as he was quizzed about previously backing her.

“I stood against every other leadership contender at the last time and then I was left with the choice of two,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

He added: “Liz demonstrated a recklessness that surprised all of us.”

The contender for the Conservative leadership dodged questions of whether backing Ms Truss and her economic plan showed a lack of judgment on his part.

He said: “What we need to be doing is focusing on the challenges that are facing us in the future. Over the last three, four years – you’re absolutely right. We have failed to deliver. That’s exactly why I’m standing because I think we need to unite this country. We need to rebuild that trust, and we need to deliver.”

Tom Tugendhat said he believes he could turn around the Tories’ disastrous election result as party leader and pointed to Labour’s landslide win after a poor result in 2019.

The Tory leadership contender was asked on BBC Breakfast if he believed he could win an election as leader of the Conservative Party in five years’ time: “Yes, it is possible to do that. You’ve got to restore trust. You’ve got to demonstrate delivery and you’ve got to be able to listen to the British people to make sure you understand where the challenges are.

“But you can look at what Keir Starmer achieved, frankly, he went from his worst electoral result to his best in five years.

“We can do the same but we need to be united. We need to regain the trust of the British people and we need to be ready to deliver.”

The former home secretary is widely expected to launch a bid to lead the party from the right and has warned that the Conservatives must not become “a collection of fanatical, irrelevant, centrist cranks”.

Ms Braverman, who has a track record of controversial opinions, also ran for the Tory leadership two years ago, coming sixth.

First elected as an MP in 2015, seld the Home Office brief under both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, who sacked her from the post over an article accusing the Metropolitan Police of bias in policing protests.

Ms Braverman, a barrister by trade, was previously attorney general for England and Wales under Boris Johnson and has also chaired the Eurosceptic European Research Group.

She has said she would welcome Reform UK’s Nigel Farage into the Conservative Party, saying: “There’s not much difference really between him and many of the policies that we stand for.”

Ladbrokes has Ms Braverman at 16/1 to succeed Mr Sunak, while she is 69/1 with Betfair Exchange.

The MP for Bromley and Biggin Hill posted on X: “I’ve known James for 15 yrs.

“He has a record of delivery and service for local communities and the country. He was a strong voice in hard times.

“A voice that was firm but never raised. A communicator. A unifier. A leader. I wholeheartedly support his bid for the Leadership.”

The last Conservative leadership election came following Liz Truss’ resignation in October 2022.

Ms Truss was elected to replace Boris Johnson, but only lasted six weeks in office after he disastrous mini budget sent economic markets into turmoil.

Two candidates put their name forward: Penny Mordaunt and Rishi Sunak.

Ms Mordaunt withdrew from the contest less than two minutes before the deadline for nominations, leaving Mr Sunak the only candidate in the contest and thus, party leader without a ballot of MPs or party members.

Having previously run for leader in 2019 and 2022, Jeremy Hunt has ruled himself out of having a third go.

After surviving a scare to cling on to his Godalming and Ash seat at the General Election, the shadow chancellor told GB News the “time has passed” for a further attempt.

Danny Kruger said he was backing Robert Jenrick to unite the Tories.

The co-chair of the New Conservatives, a right-wing grouping of MPs, told The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots: “The challenge we have got is to win back those voters we have lost to Reform, but also hold the centre of the party together and convince those wavering voters in the middle who might have left to the Lib Dems or even Labour that we are actually a responsible and competent party of government.

“And I think Rob manages that. He’s got the competence and the personality and the temperament, also he has got the right policies.”