Mel Stride admits considering Tory leadership bid
Former cabinet minister Mel Stride admits he is considering a Conservative Party leadership bid, saying “I haven’t decided yet, a number of colleagues have approached me”. The shadow work and pensions secretary is viewed as a safe pair of hands within the party and was frequently sent out to tour broadcast studios to defend Rishi Sunak's leadership during the party’s unsuccessful general election campaign. Report by Blairm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00I'm not sure that these labels of left to right are that helpful, because I think a
00:04successful candidate is going to have to do a number of things. One of them is to unite
00:08the Conservative Parliamentary Party. That becomes the foundation on which we can build.
00:13But secondly, we need to find that common ground, those issues that resonate with the
00:17electorate, and some of those are traditionally associated with the right, lower migration
00:21for example, getting on top of illegal migration, lower taxes, but also those elements that
00:26are there in the One Nation tradition of the Conservative Party as well, around compassion
00:31and looking after, in particular, the most vulnerable in society. And I think if we can
00:35build that broad church around a united Conservative Party, particularly in Parliament, then there's
00:42no reason why actually we couldn't come back into government at the end of this term, just
00:48as Labour did after 2019, their worst defeat since the 1930s. They were back in one cycle.
00:55I haven't decided yet. A number of colleagues have approached me and we've had discussions.
01:00You'll just have to wait another few days, I think, on that.