Former Cabinet minister Mel Stride said he is considering running for the Conservative Party leadership after “a number of colleagues” urged him to stand.
The shadow work and pensions secretary, one of Rishi Sunak’s closest allies, said launching a leadership bid is “certainly a possibility”.
The Central Devon MP is viewed as a safe pair of hands within the party and was frequently sent out to tour broadcast studios to defend Mr Sunak’s leadership during the disastrous general election campaign.
Mel has expressed some controversial views on maternity leave in the past. He’s been quoted as saying that the UK’s current maternity leave policies are too “onerous” and that the country should “seriously consider” following Germany’s lead, where expecting mothers who work are given 14 weeks of paid leave, which is considerably less than the UK’s 52 weeks.
Asked whether he would throw his hat in the ring, he told Times Radio: “It’s something I’m considering.
“A number of colleagues have approached me and suggested that I might do that.
“We don’t yet of course know what the actual rules of the process will be – and I’ll want to wait to see that before I take a final decision – but it’s certainly a possibility.”
He argued against “ideological labels” when pressed on whether he would seek to prevent a rightward shift in the party, but added: “I want us to have that One Nation tradition.”
After colleague Suella Braverman warned that the party risks becoming “centrist cranks”, Mr Stride said: “I don’t think I’d describe myself as that at all.”
Other potential leadership contenders include former home secretaries Ms Braverman and Dame Priti Patel, shadow home secretary James Cleverly, shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat, shadow communities secretary Kemi Badenoch and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick.
After the general election saw the Tories reduced to just 121 MPs, the party faces a battle to see off the threat from Reform UK on the right and the loss of traditional Conservative heartlands to the Liberal Democrats.
Mr Stride also acknowledged that the party needs to attract younger voters.
He conceded “there’s no doubt that we have a demographic problem” when he was confronted with analysis showing one in six Conservative voters is likely to die before the next election.
The senior Tory said: “This isn’t just a challenge that is about leaping on to some wonderful ideological square that will suddenly see all problems resolved. It’s about some deep, painstaking work to work out how we start to attract younger electors.
“And I think this point about the age profile of those that are supporting Conservatives really underscores the depth of the challenge that we have, but it is not insurmountable.”
He added: “The first thing we need to do, the first step is to unite the parliamentary party.”
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