The former home secretary James Cleverly has seized the momentum in the Conservative leadership contest, calling on his party to be “more normal” after a tumultuous few days for his two main rivals, Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick.
In a speech on the final day of the Tory conference in which he apologised to the membership and the country for the failings of the parliamentary party, he said victory would come again when the Conservatives were “enthusiastic, relatable, positive, optimistic – let’s be more normal”.
