Jenrick has spoken to GB News following his ascension to the final two. He’s a happy man…
“I’m absolutely delighted to have got the trust and the confidence of so many. I have a very specific plan as to how we do that whether it’s improving the NHS, getting growth going again in our economy or securing our borders – I don’t believe in platitudes I want us to have a serious plan now.”
The leadership hopeful claims vote-lending accusations are a “conspiracy theory“:
“I think in the privacy of the ballot box my colleagues have voted for who they think is the best person to take this party forward.”
He is framing the race now as one on immigration policy:
“On immigration we do differ. I believe that we should leave the ECHR. In fact I think it’s the only way in which we’ll control our borders. We’ll get foreign criminals out of this country, we’ll get terror suspects out and we’ll actually restore sovereignty to Parliament. Also we do disagree on whether we should have a capped system of migration.”
Jenrick is still pushing for the member vote to be pushed forward for a Budget reponse from the new leader. Pushback from Badenoch so far…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”