Key quotes from the Conservative Party leadership election

The winner of the Conservative leadership contest is set to be announced on Saturday after months of campaigning.

Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat on stage — The final four Conservative leadership candidates made their pitches at the party conference (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The winner of the Conservative leadership contest will be announced on Saturday, following months of speeches, debates and gaffes.

Here are some of the key quotes from the leadership campaign.

James Cleverly puts his hands together after delivering his speech at the Conservative Party conference — James Cleverly appealed to his party to ‘be more normal’ in his conference speech. (Jacob King/PA)

– “Let’s be more normal.” – James Cleverly, Conservative Party Conference, October 2

In his pitch to the Tory conference in Birmingham, the former home secretary urged his colleagues to restore normality to conservative politics, becoming more “enthusiastic, relatable, positive, optimistic”.

After surging into first place after the conference, Mr Cleverly suffered a shock defeat in the final round of MP voting and failed to make the final two.

Kemi Badenoch delivers her speech at the 2024 Tory conference — Kemi Badenoch drew condemnation after appearing to describe statutory maternity pay as ‘excessive’ (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

– “We’re taking from one group of people and giving to another. This, in my view, is excessive.” – Kemi Badenoch on maternity pay, Times Radio interview, September 30

Ms Badenoch prompted a backlash when she appeared to criticise statutory maternity pay in an interview at the Conservative Party conference.

She later rowed back, insisting that she did “believe in maternity pay” but thought business regulation was too burdensome, while sources close to her accused rival leadership candidates of looking to “score political hits” and not being “serious about getting back into government.”

Robert Jenrick delivers a speech at the Old Queen's Street Cafe in Westminster during his leadership bid — Robert Jenrick’s suggestion that British soldiers were killing rather than capturing terrorists due to human rights laws was strongly criticised (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

– “Our special forces are killing, rather than capturing terrorists because our lawyers tell us if they are caught the European Court will set them free.” – Robert Jenrick campaign video, September 30

Mr Jenrick suffered his own backlash during the Tory conference over this claim about British soldiers, part of the opposition to the European Convention on Human Rights that formed the heart of his campaign.

War veteran and rival leadership candidate, Tom Tugendhat, said Mr Jenrick was “wrong” and demonstrated “a fundamental misunderstanding of military operations and the law of armed conflict”, while Mr Cleverly said British soldiers “do not murder people”.

Tom Tugendhat holding one of his leadership campaign T-shirts. It is blue, with the word 'TOM' and a union jack on the front — Tom Tugendhat said invading Iraq was the ‘naughtiest’ thing he had ever done (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

– “I invaded a country once which was a few years ago, in 2003, I was part of the invading army in Iraq.” – Tom Tugendhat, asked by The Spectator in September about the “naughtiest” thing he had ever done

For Theresa May, it was running through fields of wheat. For Robert Jenrick, it was attempting to climb Wolverhampton’s Christmas tree after a few drinks. But for Mr Tugendhat, the naughtiest thing he had ever done was invade another country.

The former soldier, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, drew some criticism for “making light” of the conflict during an interview with The Spectator.

Sir Christopher Chope speaks in the House of Commons — Sir Christopher Chope suggested on ITV Meridian that Kemi Badenoch was too ‘preoccupied’ with her children to be party leader (House of Commons)

– “Being leader of the opposition is a really demanding job and, much as I like Kemi, I think she’s preoccupied with her own children, quite understandably.” – Sir Christopher Chope, ITV Meridian, October 17.

Mr Jenrick distanced himself from one of his supporters, Sir Christopher Chope, after the veteran MP appeared to suggest that Ms Badenoch’s three young children meant she would not be able to devote enough attention to being leader of the opposition.

The comment brought back echoes of a previous leadership race, where Andrea Leadsom was forced to apologise in 2016 after appearing to suggest that being a mother made her a better candidate for prime minister than Theresa May.

Robert Jenrick delivers a speech during his leadership campaign — Robert Jenrick accused his rival Kemi Badenoch of being ‘disrespectful’ to Tory members (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

– “I think it’s disrespectful to the members and the public to ask for their votes without saying where you stand on the big issues facing our country today.” – Robert Jenrick on Kemi Badenoch, BBC Westminster Hour, October 20

Leadership candidates largely steered clear of directly criticising their opponents, with attacks being strongly discouraged by Conservative Campaign Headquarters.

But as the contest neared its end, Mr Jenrick became more vocal in his criticism of Ms Badenoch, accusing her of failing to say where she stood on major issues and saying he offered “a plan today” rather than “a plan at some point in the future”.