Key quotes from the Conservative Party leadership election

The winner of the Conservative leadership contest will be announced on Saturday after months of speeches, debates and blunders.

Here are some of the key quotes from the leadership campaign.

James Cleverly puts his hands together after delivering his speech at the Conservative Party conference — James Cleverly called on his party to “be more normal” in his conference speech. (Jacob King/PA)

– “Let’s be more normal.” – James Cleverly, Conservative Party Conference, 2 October

In his presentation at the Tory conference in Birmingham, the former home secretary urged his colleagues to restore normalcy to Tory politics by becoming more “enthusiastic, relatable, positive, optimistic”.

After coming out on top after the conference, Mr Cleverly suffered a shock defeat in the final round of MP voting and failed to make the bottom two.

Kemi Badenoch delivers her speech at the 2024 Tory conference — Kemi Badenoch has been condemned after appearing to describe statutory maternity pay as ‘excessive’ (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

– “We take from one group of people and give to another. This, in my view, is excessive.” – Kemi Badenoch on maternity pay, Times Radio interview, 30 September

Ms Badenoch caused a backlash when she appeared to criticize statutory maternity pay in an interview at the Conservative Party conference.

She later backtracked, insisting she “believes in maternity pay” but found business regulation too burdensome, while sources close to her rival leadership candidates accused her of seeking “political kickbacks” and they are not “serious about returning to government”. .”

Robert Jenrick gives a speech at the Old Queen's Street Cafe in Westminster during his leadership bid — Robert Jenrick’s suggestion that British soldiers were killing rather than capturing terrorists because of human rights laws has been heavily criticized (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

– “Our special forces kill rather than capture terrorists, because our lawyers tell us that if they are caught, the European Court will release them.” – Robert Jenrick Campaign Video, September 30

Mr Jenrick suffered his own backlash during the Tory conference over the claim about British soldiers, part of the opposition to the European Convention on Human Rights that was at the heart of his campaign.

War veteran and rival leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat said Mr Jenrick was wrong and showed “a fundamental misunderstanding of military operations and the law of armed conflict”, while Mr Cleverly said British soldiers “don’t kill people “.

Tom Tugendhat holding one of his leadership campaign t-shirts. It's blue with the word — Tom Tugendhat said invading Iraq was the ‘naughtiest’ thing he ever did (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

– “I once invaded a country that a few years ago, in 2003, I was part of the invading army in Iraq.” – Tom Tugendhat, asked by The Spectator in September about the “naughtiest” thing he’s ever done

For Theresa May, it was running through wheat fields. For Robert Jenrick, he tried to climb Wolverhampton’s Christmas tree after a few drinks. But for Mr. Tugendhat, the cheekiest thing he ever did was invade another country.

The former soldier, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, attracted some criticism for “shining light” on the conflict during an interview with The Spectator.

Sir Christopher Chope speaks in the House of Commons — Sir Christopher Chope suggested on ITV Meridian that Kemi Badenoch was too ‘preoccupied’ with her children to be party leader (House of Commons)

– “Being leader of the opposition is a really demanding job and as much as I like Kemi, I think she’s concerned about her own children, understandably so.” – Sir Christopher Chope, ITV Meridian, 17 October.

Mr Jenrick distanced himself from one of his backers, Sir Christopher Chope, after the veteran MP appeared to suggest Ms Badenoch’s three young children meant she would not be able to devote enough attention to being opposition leader.

The comment brought echoes of a previous leadership race in which Andrea Leadsom was forced to apologize in 2016 after appearing to suggest that being a mother made her a better candidate for prime minister than Theresa May.

Robert Jenrick gives a speech during his leadership campaign — Robert Jenrick has accused his rival Kemi Badenoch of being ‘disrespectful’ to Tory MPs (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

– “I think it’s disrespectful to members and the public to ask for their votes without saying where they stand on the big issues facing our country today.” – Robert Jenrick on Kemi Badenoch, BBC Westminster Hour, 20 October

Leadership candidates have largely shied away from directly criticizing their opponents, with attacks heavily discouraged by Conservative Campaign HQ.

But as the contest drew to a close, Mr Jenrick became more vocal in his criticism of Ms Badenoch, accusing her of failing to say where she stood on major issues and saying she had offered “a plan today” rather than “a plan at some point in the future”.