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Politics

The Conservative Leadership Election – Candidates – Part 2

Featured Photo – Photo source. License. I edited a title over the picture. 

UPDATE: Conservatives have changed their leadership election rules. MPs now require the backing of at least 7 MPs to stand (although it says 8 MPs, candidates count one as themselves) and also require to have a certain number of votes from MPs during the election to remain in the race. This was an attempt to limit the number of candidates standing and to prevent others from being able to run too easily as the field was getting too crowded, way more than is usual.  

Also, Kit Malthouse who is still on this list has dropped out of the race, being the 2nd candidate to do so. But I have decided to keep him on here anyways so people can still learn more about him if he decides to run again in the future.  

Andrea Leadsom 

Andreas Leadsom. Photo source. License.

Leadsom is Conservative MP for South Northamptonshire since 2010. She was Leader of the House of Commons, a position in May’s Cabinet for arranging the government’s business in the House of Commons, she resigned from May’s Cabinet the day before Theresa May herself announced she was stepping down. It is believed by many that Leadsom stepped down as she knew Theresa May’s resignation was imminent, as well as that she had had disagreements over May’s BREXIT strategy. She announced her run for leader on 25th May.  

Under David Cameron’s government, Leadsom was Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister and later Minister of State for Energy. Under May’s government she was Environment Secretary in May’s Cabinet before being moved on to Leader of the House of Commons. During the leadership election after David Cameron resigned, Leadsom made it as one of the final two candidates alongside Theresa May but she withdrew from the contest before the Conservative members could vote on a winner, believing she would not have the support to win, she then endorsed Theresa May, where she then automatically became Party Leader and then Prime Minister. 

In 2011, Leadsom defied the Party Whip alongside 80 other MPs in voting for an EU referendum. Leadsom was also one of 5 MPs to abstain from voting on the Same Sex Marriage bill, saying she didn’t want to go against the right for two same-sex couples where marriage is their ultimate recognition in feelings for each other while also saying that she didn’t want to change faith-based belief in marriage. Leadsom did say that she would like to see Civil Partnerships also available to heterosexual couples. During her time as Economic Secretary to the Treasury she introduced the first Islamic bonds, the Sukuk and recovered £1.36bn from the Icelandic government, that had been used to bail out the Landsbanki estate during the Global Financial Crisis. Her role as City Minister was often described as a disaster with people saying she didn’t understand issues or make decisions and blamed a lot of stuff on the EU.  

Leadsom has pledged that if she were to become leader she would hold monthly phone-ins with disgruntled members of the public, believing that leaders need to engage more with the public.

Originally Leadsom had preferred EU reform rather than leaving the EU, but eventually changed to campaigning to Leave during the EU referendum campaign, saying she changed her mind through work in the Fresh Start Project. Leadsom says she will be up for leaving the EU without a deal if no agreement is reached by 31st October.  

As of typing this up Leadsom has endorsements from three Conservative MPs, Chris Heaton-Harris, Tim Loughton and Heather Wheeler.  

Dominic Raab 

Dominic Raab. Photo source. License.

Raab has been Conservative MP for Esher and Walton since 2010. He was the 2nd BREXIT Secretary in May’s Cabinet after David Davis resigned over May’s handling of BREXIT, Raab himself also ended up resigning the position for the same reason.  

During his time before entering Cabinet he had held various Ministerial positions under May’s government. In Cameron’s government he was Under-Secretary of State for Civil Liberties. In May’s government he has been Minister of State for Courts and Justice and then Housing and Planning before entering into May’s Cabinet.  

During Raab’s time in the Commons under the Cameron coalition government he supported cutting of the budget deficit, expansion of academy schools and repealing the Identity cards act 2006 and enacting a Freedom Bill. Raab also disagreed with entering into the European Investigation Order, saying that it would strain police resources and go against safeguards on British citizens. Raab managed to get a review of positive discrimination rules being used for hiring in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. After Sergei Magnitsky’s death, Raab opened a debate on human rights abuses perpetrated by other countries and brought forth legislative proposals that would allow visa bans and asset freezes on state individuals who carry out human rights abuses, the motion was passed by MPs.  

Raab has been one of the big supporters of leaving the European Union, arguing that it would enable the UK to have a better economy by freeing up who they could trade with, as well as job creation and price cuts and that there was too much waste and corruption in the EU.  

As of typing this Raab has 21 MP endorsements that are…  

  • Henry Bellingham 
  • Suella Braverman  
  • Maria Caulfield  
  • Rehman Chishti  
  • Robert Courts 
  • David Davis 
  • Helen Grant 
  • Chris Green 
  • Eddie Hughes  
  • Andrea Jenkyns  
  • Gareth Johnson  
  • Jonathon Lord  
  • Maria Miller  
  • Anne-Marie Morris  
  • Andrew Murrison  
  • Toms Pursglove  
  • Hugo Swire  
  • Robert Syms  
  • Michael Tomlinson  
  • Shailesh Vara  
  • Nadhim Zahawi  

He also has an endorsement from the private banking organization, Arbuthnot Banking Group.  

Michael Gove 

Michael Gove. Photo source. License.

Gove has been Conservative MP for Surrey Heath since 2005. Gove has held a number of senior Cabinet positions in the former Cameron government as well as having the position of Environment Secretary on Theresa May’s Cabinet. In the last leadership election Gove came 3rd, behind Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom.  

Under the Cameron government he moved through two Cabinet positions, Education Secretary and after some time as the Government’s Chief Whip and Secretary to the Treasury he became Justice Secretary and during this time he was also appointed Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, a mostly ceremonial position that strangely out-ranks Prime Minister and is appointed by the Monarch on advice from the Prime Minister, with it normally being the Justice Secretary, due to its role of keeping the judicial branch independent.

During his time as Education Secretary in the Cameron government his main goals and changes were a reorganization of his department, having schools that were rated as “outstanding” by Ofsted become academies and cutting the previous governments school-building program. Gove also had a vision on reforming the exam system but failed to enact any change before he was out of the position. In 2010 Gove announced plans for a large restructuring of primary and secondary schools’ national curricula in England including a focus on the understanding of English literature and language, the reforms were not required to be followed by academies. Changes to exams would also include greater penalization on spelling, grammar and readability of the writing and if it made sense. Other reforms included compulsory teaching of foreign languages up until the age of sixteen and a change to league tables where schools were ranked better for the number of pupils taking GCSE’s in English, Mathematics, Science, a Language and one of the Humanities.  Again not all of these ended up being put in place before Gove was out of the position.

During Gove’s time as Justice Secretary in the Cameron government he scrapped the courts fee, removed the 12-book limit on prison books and also scrapped a British bid for a Saudi prison contract. After the Criminal Bar Association voted to stop taking new work due to Gove’s plans to lower fees, the cuts were later scrapped.  

And finally, on to his time as Environment Secretary under the May government, Gove introduced a microbead ban prohibiting it in products and from shops selling products that contained microbeads. He also announced a fuel-combustion vehicle ban by 2040, only allowing plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles. Also, under Gove animal welfare laws were improved including increasing maximum prison sentences for animal cruelty, increasing protections for animals used in government services and the introduction of one of the toughest bans on worldwide ivory trade. Gove did not agree with Extinction Rebellion that a Climate Emergency needed to be called.  

Alongside Boris Johnson, Gove was one of the main figures part of the Conservative Parties Vote Leave Campaign for the EU referendum. Gove has pledged to give 3 million EU nationals UK citizenship after BREXIT as well as abolishing providing proof of settled status.  

As of typing this Michael Gove has 27 MP endorsements who are…  

  • Peter Aldous 
  • Richard Bacon 
  • Jack Brereton  
  • Alberto Costa  
  • David Duguid  
  • George Eustice  
  • Michael Fabricant  
  • George Freeman  
  • Nick Gibb 
  • Luke Graham  
  • John Hayes  
  • Trudy Harrison 
  • Kevin Hollinrake  
  • Stephen Kerr 
  • Edward Leigh  
  • Rachel Maclean  
  • Mark Menzies  
  • Nicky Morgan  
  • Bob Neill 
  • Guy Opperman 
  • Neil Parish  
  • Bob Seely  
  • John Stevenson  
  • Mel Stride  
  • Tom Tugendhat  
  • Ed Vaizey 
  • Giles Watling  

Sajid Javid

Sajid Javid. Photo source. License.

Javid has been Conservative MP for Bromsgrove since 2010. He has held a number of Cabinet positions in the former Cameron government as well as moving through two Cabinet positions in May’s government, with him currently as Home Secretary in her Cabinet.  

He has held many positions in the former Cameron government including Economic Secretary to the Treasury and then Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Minister for Equalities and Culture Secretary within Cameron’s Cabinet, he later then moved to Business Secretary within Cameron’s Cabinet. Under May he was moved to Communities Secretary within her Cabinet before he later became Home Secretary after Amber Rudd resigned due to the Windrush scandal, being the first minority to hold that specific Cabinet position.  

During Javid’s time as MP he has been a strong opponent of anti-Semitism and during his time as Culture Secretary, he threatened to cut government grants to cultural institutions that boycott Israel. As Culture Secretary Javid strongly defended media freedom and also the freedom of the press to investigate possible wrongdoing by politicians and other public officials. As Business Secretary Javid said there would be big changes to strike laws, where strikes effecting essential public services would need the backing of at least 40% of eligible union members.  

Under May’s government as Communities Secretary Javid focused on a new generation of affordable and council housing, despite having previous criticisms on council housing. Javid also threatened to cancel the Palestine Expo in 2017 due to claims from Jewish and Pro-Israel groups that the organizers had praised Hamas. Javid enacted a program of leasehold and commonhold reforms. As Home Secretary Javid secured a review of medicinal cannabis oil and got an increase in tier-2 visas for skilled workers, he also lifted a cap on immigration for NHS doctors and nurses. Javid has argued against EU citizens having rights to work and live in the UK after BREXIT but does support EU citizens who have lived in the UK for at least 5 years being eligible for a new “settled status” in the UK after BREXIT. Javid also revealed plans for a crackdown on low-skilled migrants coming to the UK after BREXIT. Contrary to Javid’s defense of media freedom as Culture Secretary, he was expected to introduce new legal regulation of online publishers and social media as well as new censorship laws in the aftermath of the New Zealand Mosque shootings.   

Although Javid describes himself as a Eurosceptic he still believed that remaining in the EU was the better option due to the Single Market. Since the referendum though Javid has strong support for delivering BREXIT and is now firmly a Leave supporter, even saying he will leave the EU without a deal if no agreement can be reached.  

As of typing this Javid has endorsements from 16 MPs, they are…  

  • Lucy Allan 
  • Edward Argar  
  • Fiona Bruce  
  • Stephan Crabb 
  • David Davies 
  • Mims Davies 
  • Kevin Foster 
  • John Glen 
  • Robert Halfon 
  • Simon Hoare 
  • Chris Philp  
  • Mary Robinson 
  • Andrew Selous 
  • Chris Skidmore 
  • Robin Walker 
  • Mike Wood 

Javid also has endorsements from Matthew Elliott, a British political strategist and lobbyist, Rami Ranger, a British Businessman and founder of Sun Mark and Ian Taylor who is chairman and former global CEO of The Vitol Group as well as majority shareholder in Harris Tweed Hebrides.  

Kit Malthouse – UPDATE: Dropped out of the leadership bid on 4th June.  

Kit Malthouse. Photo source. License.

Malthouse has been Conservative MP for North West Hampshire since 2015. He is currently Minister of State for Housing and Planning within government, he has as of yet not held a Cabinet position in government and is a relatively junior MP which makes him one of the lesser candidates and less likely to win the leadership election. He announced his run for leader on 27th May but then dropped out on 4th June.  

Malthouse has also held two different Deputy London Mayor positions alongside then London Mayor Boris Johnson, one as Deputy London Mayor for Policing and then Deputy London Mayor for Business and Enterprise. As Deputy London Mayor for Policing, Malthouse introduced the Met Forward initiative and also in response to growing concerns of youth violence he also introduced the Time for Action program in 2008. Malthouse also campaigned against dangerous dogs and for changes to the dangerous dogs’ act legislation and he also campaigned against prostitution cards in phone kiosks. Another program he introduced in 2010 was The Way Forward program to help combat violence against woman and girls. Malthouse also wanted to repeal the Hunting Act 2004 due to his growing concern of foxes.  

During the BREXIT debacle in Parliament, Malthouse introduced the Malthouse Compromise Amendment to the BREXIT Deal/Withdrawal agreement vote. The Amendment aimed to reopen the withdrawal agreement and renegotiate the backstop as well as increasing the UK’s transition period from the EU to give more time to work on a future relationship, but failing that the compromise would then aim for a so-called “managed no-deal exit”, the amendment was aimed at uniting different factions within the Conservative Party over BREXIT but in the end it did not pass parliament. Malthouse has said if he becomes leader he will attempt a new compromise to bring the Conservative Party together over BREXIT.  


Thank you for reading. Part 3 will be coming tomorrow, it won’t include Cleverley as he has dropped out of the race and I had not typed up his profile by that point and so scrapped it, but it will include Gyimah and Harper who are currently still in the race.

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