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Theresa May launches Tory leadership bid with pledge to unite country Theresa May launches Tory leadership bid with pledge to unite country
(about 1 hour later)
Theresa May has launched her bid for the Conservative leadership , promising that the UK will leave the EU and saying the country needs a prime minister who can unite the country. Theresa May has launched her bid for the Conservative leadership, pledging that “Brexit means Brexit” and there would be no general election before 2020.
“We need a prime minister who is a tough negotiator, and ready to do the job from day one,” the home secretary said. The home secretary, who campaigned to remain in the EU, positioned herself as the candidate of stability and experience against Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, who were both in the leave camp.
Introduced by prominent leave campaigner Chris Grayling, May said that Britain would leave the European Union, and there must be no attempts to “remain through the back door”. Asked for her pitch, she said: “I’m Theresa May and I’m the best person to be prime minister.”
May gave her speech at Rusi, the defence thinktank, where a large number of Conservative MPs turned out to back her campaign.
However, the event was electrified by Gove’s surprise announcement just minutes before she stood up that he would run for the leadership because, he said, Johnson was not a suitable candidate.
Most MPs there thought the announcement worked against Johnson and in her favour by splitting the vote among leave supporters. But Gove is also extremely popular among the Conservative grassroots, so could prove fatal to her campaign if the pair become the final two on the shortlist.
While a string of MPs were defecting from Johnson’s camp to Gove, those loyal to May were making frantic plans to check that all her supporters were still backing her bid.
Asked about Gove’s comments on Johnson and his entry into the race, May said: “It’s for Michael to comment, he’s been working with Boris for many weeks ... I welcome an open contest.”
During her speech, May positioned herself as a candidate to unify the party after a divisive referendum and someone to appeal to the whole country, not a privileged few.
She attempted to woo leave voters by signing up Chris Grayling, a prominent leave campaigner, to chair her campaign and pledging to create a department for Brexit to negotiate the UK leaving the EU.
After the meeting, other prominent Conservatives signed up to support May. Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, declared his support after having mulled a bid himself.
He said: “I have decided that now is not the right time for me to run for the leadership – though I remain completely committed to ensuring we secure our position as a great trading nation with sensible controls on migration. I believe that Theresa May has the strength, judgment and values to deliver those things. She is the right choice to lead Britain in a challenging period and will make a truly outstanding prime minister.”
At the event, May also promised categorically that Britain would leave the European Union, and there must be no attempts to “remain through the back door”.
Related: Michael Gove announces surprise bid for Tory leadership as Theresa May says 'Brexit means Brexit' – liveRelated: Michael Gove announces surprise bid for Tory leadership as Theresa May says 'Brexit means Brexit' – live
“The country voted to leave the European Union, and it is the duty of the government and of parliament to make sure we do just that.”“The country voted to leave the European Union, and it is the duty of the government and of parliament to make sure we do just that.”
She also ruled out a general election before 2020, and said there would be a normal autumn statement and no emergency budget. No decision to invoke article 50 should be made until the British negotiating strategy is agreed, which meant not before the end of this year. She also ruled out a general election before 2020 if she was leader, and said there would be a normal autumn statement and no emergency budget. No decision to invoke article 50 should be made until the British negotiating strategy was agreed, she said, which meant not before the end of this year.
May made a speech during the campaign heavily criticising the European Convention on Human Rights, but she said she recognised there was not a majority in the House of Commons for withdrawing and so she would not be pursuing that. May praised David Cameron for reforming the Conservatives and the country, but twice undermined promises made by George Osborne, the chancellor, on the economy.
“The status of British nationals living or working in Europe will not change – and neither will the status of EU nationals in Britain,” she said. She said there would be no “emergency budget” to deal with the consequences of Brexit and promised that a Conservative government under May would no longer seek to reach a budget surplus by the end of the parliament, to avoid tax increases that might disrupt investment.
At the same time, she reached out to the liberal wing of the Conservative party by scrapping her claim that the UK should withdraw from the European convention on human rights. She said she recognised there was not a majority in the House of Commons for withdrawing and so she would not be pursuing that.
On top of that, she included a passage about social mobility and fighting “burning injustices” that led to inequality.
“If you’re from an ordinary working class family, life is just much harder than many people in politics realise. you have a job, but you don’t always have job security. You have your own home, but you worry about mortgage rates going up. You can just about manage, but you worry about the cost of living and the quality of the local school.
“Frankly, not everybody in Westminster understands what it’s like to live like this, and some need to be told that what the government does isn’t a game. It’s a serious business that has real consequences for people’s lives.”
Related: Michael Gove to stand for Conservative party leadershipRelated: Michael Gove to stand for Conservative party leadership
A Conservative government under May would no longer seek to reach a budget surplus by the end of the parliament, to avoid tax increases that might disrupt investment, she said. Some have been sceptical about May as a candidate because she is not known as a media personality. She addressed this by saying she was not showy: “I don’t gossip about people over lunch. I don’t go drinking in parliament’s bars. I don’t often wear my heart on my sleeve. I just get on with the job in front of me.”
“Nobody should fool themselves that this process will be brief or straightforward,” she said, proposing a new government department led by a senior secretary of state to lead on the change, an MP who had been a leave campaigner. However, she did attempt at least one joke at the expense of Johnson, saying the last time he negotiated with the Germans “he came back with three nearly-new water cannon”.
May said new restrictions of immigration could not be avoided, taking a dig at her opponent Boris Johnson, by saying any attempt to wriggle out of that “especially from leadership candidates who campaigned to leave the EU by focusing on immigration will be unacceptable to the public”. In another dig at Johnson, she said any attempt to wriggle out of commitments on reducing immigration would be unacceptable, “especially from leadership candidates who campaigned to leave the EU by focusing on immigration”.
The home secretary said she wanted to make fighting inequality and injustice the hallmark of her campaign. “If you’re from an ordinary, working-class family, life is just much harder than many people in politics realise,” she said. May was pressed several times about her own record on immigration given her failure to reduce it to the tens of thousands as promised by the Conservative manifesto.
“Frankly, not everybody in Westminster understands what it’s like to live like this. And some need to be told that what the government does isn’t a game, it’s a serious business that has real consequences for people’s lives.” She said there would have to be controls on freedom of movement but there would be “no silver bullet” on reducing immigration and it was wrong to suggest that leaving the EU would stop the flow of people into the UK altogether.
“I know some politicians seek high office because they’re driven by ideological fervour. And I know others seek it for reasons of ambition or glory. But my reasons are much simpler. I grew up the daughter of a local vicar and the granddaughter of a regimental sergeant major. Public service has been a part of who I am for as long as I can remember.”
May said she knew she was not “a showy politician” who toured TV studios. “I don’t gossip about people over lunch. I don’t go drinking in parliament’s bars. I don’t often wear my heart on my sleeve. I just get on with the job in front of me.”