6 UK lawmakers are running to lead the Conservative Party after its crushing election defeat

LONDON (AP) — Six British lawmakers entered the race to lead the defeated Conservative Party by Monday’s deadline, in a contest that will decide whether the opposition party tacks to the right or steers toward the political center.

Contenders include former Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and lawmaker Tom Tugendhat from the party’s centrist grouping. Former Home Secretary Priti Patel and ex-Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch have support from the right of the party.

Robert Jenrick, a former immigration minister, and veteran lawmaker Mel Stride also secured the required support of 10 Conservative lawmakers.

Badenoch, who came third in the party’s last leadership election in 2022, was the early favorite with bookmakers. The Nigeria-raised lawmaker used language reminiscent of Conservative icon Margaret Thatcher, saying the party should lead “a renewal for capitalism” built around a smaller state and seek to persuade voters “why conservatism should matter.”

In the wake of the party’s devastating election defeat this month, which saw it lose votes to parties on both right and left, Conservatives are split between moderates who want to try to win back centrist voters and hard-liners who want tougher migration and law and order policies to regain political territory lost to the Reform U.K. party led by anti-immigration firebrand Nigel Farage.

Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, a standard-bearer for the party’s right, said Sunday she would not run. Braverman has urged the party to reach out to Reform and welcome Farage into Conservative ranks.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, she said Conservative colleagues were unwilling to listen to her, and had branded her “mad, bad and dangerous.”

The Conservatives were kicked out by voters in a July 4 election that brought a Labour landslide, ending 14 years in power under five prime ministers. The Conservatives were reduced to 121 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons, their worst-ever result.

The Tories’ turbulent years in office brought a series of economic shocks: years of spending cuts, Britain’s exit from the European Union, a global pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It also brought self-inflicted wounds including the scandal-tarred tenure of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the economic turmoil unleashed by his successor Liz Truss.

The contest to replace former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will last more than three months. Sunak will remain acting leader of the Conservatives until his successor is announced on Nov. 2.

Conservative lawmakers will narrow the field down through a series of votes to four contenders, who will make pitches to members at the party’s annual conference in early October. Lawmakers will then choose two final candidates, who will be put to an online vote of Conservative members across the country.

The party’s last contested leadership selection, in mid-2022, saw members choose Truss over Sunak. Truss resigned after just 49 days in office when her tax-cutting plans rocked the financial markets and battered the value of the pound. The party then chose Sunak to replace her.

It is now enmeshed in bitter recriminations over the reasons for its electoral defeat.

Bob Blackman, who heads the committee of Conservative lawmakers overseeing the leadership contest, warned that candidates bad-mouthing rivals would face a public scolding.

“The constant backbiting and attacking colleagues both in public and on the media in the last parliament was one of the contributory reasons as to why the party did so badly in the general election,” he said. “We are determined that we will not tolerate that happening.”

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press