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Sunak should stay on as Tory leader until November, says Duncan Smith
Former Tory leader backs longer leadership campaign to give party time to understand reasons for historic defeat
Rishi Sunak should continue to lead the Tory party until November, when the search for his successor could be completed, Sir Iain Duncan Smith has said.
Sir Iain, a former Tory leader, told The Telegraph he backed a longer leadership campaign in order to give the Conservatives time to understand the reasons for their historic defeat and to “get the party in a position where they come together”.
There has been speculation that Mr Sunak will step down at the end of July, but Sir Iain said a contest needed to go into late autumn.
“I would prefer that Rishi Sunak would stick around … he should stick around, because he owes the party to take the fight to Labour. He may not want to do it but I hope he will stay until that time, which will be the end of autumn,” he added.
He was backed by Sir Simon Clarke, the former levelling up secretary, who was the first senior Tory to call for Mr Sunak to quit during his premiership.
Sir Simon told LBC: “I would like to see Rishi Sunak stay as leader for the duration of it [the leadership contest] – it seems to be the cleanest solution that he should.
“I think it should run probably until after conference. I think we should be looking here at a contest culminating in November or December so as to allow meaningful discussion, not just in Westminster but in the wider country, about what it is that we’re going to do and who’s going to lead us in that mission.”
George Freeman, the former science minister, also backed Sir Iain and said: “I think it’s really important that we don’t rush into a leadership contest now. I’d like this party conference to be a serious conference of renewal for ourselves and to ask those questions honestly, and then a leadership contest afterwards.”
Although no Tory politician has yet formally declared they will run for the leadership, Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel, Tom Tugendhat, Suella Braverman and Victoria Atkins are seen as contenders.
It is thought unlikely that there will be any first round in the leadership contest before the summer recess, which would mean the first rounds being held in September or later.
Kevin Hollinrake, the former Post Office minister, told Times Radio: “If we get the right leader, we regroup, we unite behind that leader, we can win in 2029. That’s got to be our job.”