Can Priti Patel become Tory leader?

Priti Patel has tonight entered the race to be the next Tory leader. The former home secretary sets out her pitch in the Daily Telegraph on why she is best placed to succeed Rishi Sunak. It is framed by the newspaper as being an appeal to the party’s grassroots, with Patel suggesting that she would give party members ‘a much greater voice’ in formulating policies. She writes that the ‘heroic grassroots of the party did ‘nothing wrong’ in this month’s election campaign but were let down by MPs who ‘fell out and fell short.’

Patel becomes the fifth candidate to say she is standing following James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat, Robert Jenrick and Mel Stride. She is the first female contender and – according to her supporters – the most experienced, having been in politics since the mid-1990s. Patel, 52, worked for the Referendum party and then the Conservatives under William Hague from 1995 onwards.