'End the backbiting and squabbling', Rishi Sunak urges Tories in final speech as leader

Rishi Sunak has urged the Conservative Party to end the "backbiting and the squabbling" in his final speech before he stands down as leader.

In a speech at the party's conference in Birmingham, the former prime minister said he had one final "ask" - for members to get behind whoever wins the contest to replace him.

"We must end the division, the backbiting, the squabbling. We must not nurse old grudges but build new friendships," he told the reception event on Sunday. “We must always remember what unites us rather than obsess over where we might differ, because when we turn in on ourselves we lose and the country ends up with a Labour government.”

Sunak, who oversaw the Conservatives’ worst election loss in living memory during the summer, also took aim at Sir Keir Starmer for his acceptance of freebies and gifts.

He joked that the conference was such a “hot ticket” that he was surprised the Labour leader “hasn’t asked someone to buy it for him”.

The Richmond and Northallerton MP also apologised to Conservative members at the party conference for the summer election loss.

“I am only sorry that your efforts could not deliver the results you deserved,” he said.

“It wasn’t you,” a member shouted back.

It comes after Sunak described this year as a “difficult one” for the party as “too many good Conservatives have lost their seats”, in a piece for The House magazine.He said he “will always be sorry” that “he could not deliver the results that everyone’s efforts deserved”, in the article at the start of his final conference as leader.

Sunak announced he would be standing down as the party leader following the election defeat in July.

The winner of the leadership contest is due to be announced at the start of November.

The contest to replace Sunak will feature prominently at the gathering in Birmingham as Robert Jenrick, Tom Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly are all vying for the leadership.

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