Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke and Tees Valley Metro Mayor Ben Houchen have published a joint statement in The Telegraph backing Boris. The move is particularly interesting given Clarke backed Truss and Houchen backed Rishi in the summer leadership contest. The letter in The Telegraph says:

“Boris is the person we need to lead our country and our party. 

He won the greatest election victory for years on a mandate to unite and level up the UK, and inspired millions of people who had never voted Conservative before to get behind a generous, optimistic vision of what Britain can be.   

People on Teesside love Boris because he recognised that while talent is evenly distributed across the country, opportunity is not. Boris gave us that opportunity. 

…

Teesside has had difficult times and is now levelling up because of Boris. We know that for us, like Boris, the comeback will be greater than the setback.”

Houchen is a real loss for Rishi…

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