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Cleverly rules out frontbench role under new Tory leader Cleverly rules out frontbench role under new Tory leader
(about 1 hour later)
Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly has said he will not accept a frontbench role from the next leader of the Conservative Party, when they are unveiled on Saturday. Shadow home secretary James Cleverly has said he will not accept a frontbench role from the next leader of the Conservative Party, after they are unveiled on Saturday.
The winning candidate - out of Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick - is expected to carry out an immediate reshuffle of the top Tory team. The winning candidate - Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick - is likely to carry out an immediate reshuffle of the Tory frontbench team.
But Cleverly has told the Financial Times he will return to the backbenches rather than serve in either candidate's shadow cabinet. But Cleverly has told the Financial Times (FT), external he will return to the backbenches rather than serve in either candidate's shadow cabinet.
Cleverly had been the frontrunner in the race to replace Rishi Sunak but was knocked out in a surprise vote by MPs at the start of October. Following the Tory conference, Cleverly briefly became the frontrunner in the race to replace Rishi Sunak, but was surprisingly knocked out in the final ballot of MPs.
He explained he had been "liberated" from 16 years on the political frontline and now was "not particularly in the mood to be boxed back into a narrow band again". He told the FT he had been "liberated" from 16 years on the political front line and was now "not particularly in the mood to be boxed back into a narrow band again".
Cleverly shot to the front of the pack of leadership candidates after a well-received speech at the Conservative Party conference in September. Cleverly shot to the front of the pack of leadership candidates after a well-received speech to the Conservative conference early last month, in which he called for the party to be "more normal" and sell its policies "with a smile".
However, his support unexpectedly fell away in the last round as MPs moved their votes around in an attempt to get the final line-up they wanted. However, his support unexpectedly fell away in the last round of MPs' voting.
Cleverly admitted the result was a "bit of a punch to the gut" as he had repeatedly warned his backers that "Kremlinology is a fool's game" - but supporters kept asking who he would prefer to go up against. Many theories were advanced on why that had happened, including that some of his supporters had tried to engineer the final line-up they wanted.
When Badenoch and Jenrick topped the poll, both hinted they could give him positions in their shadow cabinet if they became leader. The former home and foreign secretary was eliminated with 37 votes. Badenoch secured 42 and Jenrick 41.
Badenoch said Cleverly's campaign had been “full of energy, ideas and optimism” and she looked forward to “continuing to work with him”. There were gasps in the Commons committee room where the result was announced.
Her rival Jenrick told Cleverly the party "needs you in its top team in the years ahead", adding he'd be "delighted for him to serve in the shadow cabinet should he want to do so". Cleverly admitted to the FT the result was a "bit of a punch to the gut", saying he had repeatedly warned his backers that "Kremlinology is a fool's game" - but that he "lost track" of the number of supporters who asked who he would prefer to go up against.
Jenrick has made leaving the European Court of Human rights (ECHR) a key plank of his leadership offer, saying all Tory MPs would need to sign up to the policy - but Cleverly has rejected the idea. "I’d worried that that might happen," he said, adding: "I kept saying there aren’t many votes to play with... it doesn’t take very many people to really distort outcomes."
But a stint on the backbenches seems unlikely to last forever and Cleverly has left the door open to a future bid to become leader of the Conservative Party, saying he wouldn't "rule anything in or anything out". He declined to say who of the final two he had backed.
Nor did he rule out the idea of a bid to become the Mayor of London in 2028, adding: "We do need to fight back in London. We need to fight back in big, big, big chunks of the country." When Badenoch and Jenrick topped the MPs' poll, both signalled they would offer him a position in their shadow cabinet if they became leader.
Badenoch said Cleverly's campaign had been "full of energy, ideas and optimism", and she looked forward to "continuing to work with him".
Jenrick told Cleverly the party "needs you in its top team in the years ahead", adding that he would be "delighted for him to serve in the shadow cabinet should he want to do so".
Jenrick has made leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) a key plank of his leadership offer, saying all Tory MPs would need to sign up to the policy - but Cleverly has rejected the idea.
However, a stint on the backbenches appears unlikely to last forever and Cleverly has left the door open to a future bid to become leader of the Conservative Party, saying he would not "rule anything in or anything out".
Nor did he rule out the idea of a bid to become mayor of London in 2028, adding: "We do need to fight back in London. We need to fight back in big, big, big chunks of the country."