Not all cultures equally valid, says Kemi Badenoch

All four will get a chance to make their case over the next four days in Birmingham, culminating in four 20-minute speeches by each contender on Wednesday.

The field will then be whittled down to two by MPs, with the Tory membership getting the final say in an online ballot. The result will be declared on 2 November.

In her Telegraph article, external, Badenoch sets out what she calls a “hard-nosed” policy on immigration.

She calls for a complete overhaul of the system to ensure every public servant makes it a priority – not just the Home Office – and does not rule out leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.

She also calls for a better “integration strategy” that emphasises British values and culture.

Drawing on her own background as an immigrant – she was born in the UK but spent her childhood in Nigeria – Badenoch writes: “Culture is more than cuisine or clothes. It’s also customs which may be at odds with British values.

“We cannot be naïve and assume immigrants will automatically abandon ancestral ethnic hostilities at the border, or that all cultures are equally valid. They are not.

“I am struck for example, by the number of recent immigrants to the UK who hate Israel. That sentiment has no place here.”