Priti Patel says she would get Tories back to government as party leader

Priti Patel has said she will get the Conservatives back to winning if she becomes party leader.

The Witham MP and former home secretary touted her experience in Cabinet and her work on immigration and policing while presenting herself as a “grassroots Conservative” as she launched her campaign in London.

She said she would get the party back to its “winning ways”.

Asked whether she believed the Conservatives could win the next general election, she said: “You bet we can.”

She said in a speech: “We are a patriotic party, a national party who believes in the union and the matters which concern hard-working people every single day.

“And I will lead us from opposition to government, so that we can serve the British people again and give them back the freedoms and the dignity that Labour will take away from them.”

She called Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s No 10 speech earlier this week “one of the most feeble, pitiful and dishonest speeches you will ever hear”.

In an appeal for support from Conservative colleagues in Parliament, she said her “professionalism” would restore the party’s ability to take on challenges from other parties during campaigning.

She said Nigel Farage’s Reform UK was “just one factor” in the electoral drubbing the Conservatives faced in July.

“I am absolutely determined to ensure that we become that election-winning machine all over again, regardless of who our political opponents are across the political spectrum, whether it’s Reform, the Lib Dems, the Greens, because it varies across the country,” she said.

She pledged to introduce an elected party chairperson as part of giving back “control” to members if she is picked as party leader.

She also said she would reform the parliamentary candidate selection process which she said led to candidates being “imposed upon local associations, parachuted down because they were the chosen favourite”.

Dame Priti said that she has heard the message from the British public “loud and clear” after the disastrous electoral result for the Tories, but also said that  “Conservatism has not failed.”

“Our values and our principles remain as true as ever, and they are still shared by the majority of the public.”

Dame Priti is one of six candidates for the Conservative leadership. She faces competition from Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Mel Stride and Kemi Badenoch.

A new leader will be announced at the start of November, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first Budget, due in October.

Dame Priti became an MP in 2010 and served in Cabinet positions under Theresa May and Boris Johnson, as international development secretary and home secretary respectively.

She is a longstanding Eurosceptic and prominent figure on the right of the party.

As home secretary she launched a points-based immigration system and signed the agreement with Rwanda to send asylum seekers to the country.

She resigned as home secretary after Liz Truss became Tory leader.