30 Sep TORY PARTY CHAIRMAN DENIES LEADERSHIP CANDIDATES ARE TURNING ON EACH OTHER
TORY chairman Richard Fuller has denied that the candidates to lead the party are repeating the mistakes of the past and turning on each other.
He told GB News: “There’s nothing wrong with candidates saying where they have differences of opinion about policy.
“I think the point I was trying to make was that as we start our review into the General Election, we have to recognise that the parliamentary party in the period from 2019 to 2024 was not fully focused on delivering on the public’s objectives and we did look, as I said, self-serving and divided, and that harmed our competence.
“Each campaign has got to lay out what they see is their vision for the future. I would just caution each of the campaigns that what I’m hearing from members of the Conservative Party here is that they want to make sure that whoever is chosen as leader, all the other candidates get behind and support
“They’re going to inherit a party that has gone through a very difficult election.
“They’ve got to galvanise the 121 Members of Parliament for the Conservative Party into a single team and then excite and inspire the Conservative activists across the country, making sure that they’re positive about their approach is actually the way.
“I think that’s the best strategy for them to win.”
Asked about Kemi Badenoch’s claim that maternity pay is excessive, he said: “She was making a point more about business regulations. The Conservative Party was the party that brought in statutory maternity pay.
“No, I don’t think it’s excessive. And I think if you talk to organisations like CBI, they’d say exactly the same thing.”
He added: “I would just make the broader point that when it comes to regulations on our businesses, particularly our small businesses, that is a current issue. We are worried.
“People are worried about what the Labour government may do in terms of introducing new employment rights from day one, what impact that will have on small businesses and their willingness to take on new employees.”
He defended former Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Downden, following the news that he has been interviewed about the row over gambling on the General Election outcome: “I don’t think there’s any sense or implication that Mr Dowden was doing anything wrong.
“It’s quite natural for the Gambling Commission, because they wanted to, quite rightly, have a thorough inquiry about this, that they would talk to people who were at the highest level to the party, as you say, before the election.
“That’s the context in which Mr Dowden was interviewed, not because there was any sense of wrongdoing. If, I think it’s been explicitly stated, there’s no sense of any wrongdoing, just to get his perspectives as a senior member of the Conservative Party at that time.”
On whether Reform UK or the Liberal Democrats pose the biggest threat to the Tories, he said: “I think the Conservative Party needs to do its own work and to get back to inspiring the vast majority of the country’s voters who have small c conservative ideas.
“For nearly 200 years, the Conservative Party has been their default choice to lead the country. That’s a trust that we have earned, and it’s a trust we now need to re-earn, and that’s why the review that I announced yesterday is going to be one of the most thoroughgoing reviews that we have had.”
