Can Newark MP Robert Jenrick become the next Conservative Party Leader?

Robert Jenrick, the MP for Newark in Nottinghamshire, has thrown his hat in the ring to replace Rishi Sunak in the Tory party leader role.

The battle for the future of the Conservative Party officially began on Wednesday night, with the opening of nominations in the contest following the Tories' worst general election result.

Mr Jenrick's campaign team said the ex-immigration minister has gathered enough support to run, and that he would submit his nomination on Thursday morning.

"Mr Jenrick has the "energy, temperament and policy agenda to take on our rivals"

His campaign manager Danny Kruger said:

"To have any path back to government we must win back those voters we have lost, across the board but particularly to Reform.

"At the same time we have to bring our party together, united behind one set of coherent Conservative principles."

He said Mr Jenrick has the "energy, temperament and policy agenda to take on our rivals and lead us back to power in five years."

Mr Jenrick has argued for the UK to leave the ECHR, as has former Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

The Conservatives were reduced to just 121 seats as Mr Sunak's premiership ended in electoral disaster in July.

The Tory party leadership countdown

Contenders need a proposer, seconder and eight other backers to stand.

The parliamentary party will then narrow the field down to four, who will make their case at the Conservative Party Conference, which runs from 29th September to 2nd October.

The final two, picked by the parliamentary party, will then go to a vote of Conservative Party members in an online ballot that will close on 31st October, with the result announced on 2nd November.

The view from our Political Correspondent Alison Mackenzie:

I first met Robert Jenrick when he was fighting to win the Newark by-election, following the resignation of the sitting Tory MP Patrick Mercer - linked to a lobbying scandal in 2014.

He has been a strong force in his constituency and since his time in Westminster a significant figure at government level.

He’s served in junior ministerial roles in Health and at the Treasury, and he was Secretary of State for Communities and Housing in the Boris Johnson government - he had been a strong supporter of Boris Johnson when he was bidding for leadership in 2019.Robert Jenrick is firmly on the right of the party having resigned as Immigration Minister under Rishi Sunak last year - declaring that the Rwanda Plan didn’t go far enough in tackling immigration.

In announcing his own party leadership bid he is reaching out to those voters lost to Reform in the recent General Election.

He will argue that the values championed by those voters can be securely respected in a newly-united Conservative Party - with himself at the helm.He is now the only Conservative MP in the whole of Nottinghamshire - so he is well aware of the task that lies ahead.“Change” was the word much trumpeted by Sir Keir Starmer when bidding for the electoral success he has now achieved.

Might that be the message from Robert Jenrick in the weeks to come ? Is it time to change his party into a united force able to win another General Election in 2029 ?