Sir James Cleverly has declined to rule out another Tory leadership bid as he told his party to stop “obsessing” about Reform UK if it wants to win back disillusioned voters.
He stressed that the Conservatives should focus on addressing voters’ concerns which would avoid having to play “whack-a-mole with policies that Reform might put forward”.
His intervention comes as Conservative frontbenchers continue to debate the party’s response to the rise of Reform ahead of May’s local elections.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has ruled out a national coalition, but left the door open to deals between local councillors, while shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick told a party meeting in March that he wanted to form a “coalition” of Reform and Tory voters.
But Reform leader Nigel Farage has consistently ruled out a deal with the Conservatives, saying his supporters would be “revolted” by such a prospect.
Mr Jenrick’s remarks about trying to unite the Right ahead of the next general election and other comments has sparked accusations of manoeuvring as Ms Badenoch seeks to stamp her authority on the Tories.
In an interview with GB News’s Gloria De Piero to be broadcast on Sunday, former Home Secretary Sir James did not rule out another leadership bid.
He had been expected to make the final two of last year’s leadership contest after he topped the penultimate ballot of Tory MPs, but unexpectedly failed to get enough votes to qualify, leaving Mrs Badenoch and Mr Jenrick to compete for members’ support.
Asked about his future, Sir James said he was “making the most of the fact that I no longer wake up in the morning, put on my glasses, fumble through my phone and check to see what messages have come in from my private office overnight”.
But he added: “I just say, never say never again.
“I don’t rule anything in, don’t rule anything out.”
He urged his party to address why people were backing Reform rather than trying to “calibrate (our) actions to respond to the existence of Reform”.
Sir James stressed: “The question we ask ourselves is does Reform exist because of other things that have happened?
“And my contention is that it does.
“And so if we address the reasons why people are going to Reform, you don’t then need to address Reform. And this, I think, is what we need to do.”
He went on to say that the Conservatives should consider why voters, and particularly young men, felt “disillusioned” with politics.
He said: “Why do we not have answers to their questions?
“Why do we not seemingly have a way of giving them the opportunity they feel they need?
“Now, I don’t have all the answers at my fingertips at the moment, this is what a period in opposition is about.
“If you address those things, you don’t then need to play whack-a-mole with policies that Reform might put forward.”
Pointing to similar issues in other “mature democracies” such as Germany, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party made progress in recent elections, he said: “There is a bigger issue than just Nigel Farage and one party.
“And if we make the mistake of obsessing about him and the one party, we will fail to address the underlying issues that are causing that disenchantment.”
