Kemi Badenoch pledges Tory renewal as she enters leadership race

Ms Badenoch said the Conservative Party needed to focus on “doing some things well, not everything badly” to recover from their worst ever election result – which left them with 121 MPs.

Writing in The Times newspaper, external, she said: “My campaign is launching with an explicit focus on renewing our party for 2030 – the first full year we can be back in government and the first year of a new decade.”

Under her, the Conservatives “will speak the truth again” and return to its roots, Ms Badenoch said.

In her article, Ms Badenoch made a case for leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), a major dividing line within the Conservative party.

Some Conservatives argue leaving the convention is key to controlling immigration and enhancing national security, but others worry it could damage the UK’s international reputation and legal protections.

“We can’t control immigration until we re-confirm our belief in the nation state and the sovereign duty it has above all else to serve its own citizens,” Ms Badenoch said.

“Our public services will never fully recover from the pandemic until we remember that government should do some things well, not everything badly.”

Central to her pledge for “renewal” and “reuniting the Conservative family” is an unwavering embracing of capitalism.

“The wealth of our nation is built upon our historic ability to capture the ingenuity and industry of our people, and the willingness of many to trade risk for reward,” she said.

“It’s become a dirty word, but our renewal must also mean a renewal for capitalism.