Robert Jenrick lays out 10 principles for the future of the Conservatives

Former immigration minister warns oblivion awaits the Tories unless they show they have changed

Robert Jenrick has laid out 10 principles for the future of the Conservatives as he seeks to outline a common creed for the party.
The Tory leadership hopeful set out his stall with a warning that the Tories must rebuild far more quickly than after their previous landslide election defeat in 1997.
In an essay for the Sunday Telegraph, the former immigration minister said political oblivion awaits the Conservatives unless they show the public that they have changed.
Mr Jenrick said although his party had failed to deliver in 2019, the Tory brand had also lost its meaning as an identity crisis took hold.
He argued the nation state is fundamental, the UK and its Parliament are sovereign, market economics drive growth, the NHS has to be made to deliver and mass migration must end.
Mr Jenrick went on to say Britain “needs a small state that works, not a big state that fails”, emphasise the importance of levelling up, make the case for a tough and effective justice system, promise to promote national unity and insist that peace comes through strength.
He said: “Our country faces a truly stark set of challenges – the shift of power from west to east, technology like AI upending old industries and mass migration, to name but a few.
“We need pragmatic principles to guide us, not wishful thinking, and a positive vision of the future we seek to build.”
On Saturday night, Mel Stride, the shadow work and pensions secretary and the outsider in the race, pledged a major tax cut to help young people get on the housing ladder.
Under his proposals, the first £5,000 of National Insurance paid by young people in their working lives would be diverted into a Lifetime Isa or similar savings pot.
Employees would then be given a choice of drawing on the funds as part of a house deposit, or investing and accessing the cash aged 60 once approaching retirement.
He said: “My vision for the Conservative Party is about opportunity and fairness, and a huge part of that needs to be our offer to younger voters.”
All hopefuls except Kemi Badenoch, the shadow housing secretary, spoke at a hustings in North Yorkshire on Saturday, with Ms Badenoch away on a long-booked family holiday.
In a statement read out on her behalf, she said: “Inevitably, over such a long period of time, there will be times when all six of us cannot attend every single event.
“I am so sorry that I cannot be with you today in Yarm, but I know that there will be more opportunities for us to meet in the coming weeks and months.”
Ms Badenoch said the merits of the region were on show when she visited Middlesbrough earlier this month to meet party activists and Lord Houchen, the Tory Mayor of Tees Valley.
Tom Tugendhat, the shadow security minister, used the event to praise Lord Houchen, who bucked the trend at May’s local and mayoral elections as he was re-elected for a third term.
Mr Tugendhat said: “The North demonstrates something that many Conservatives forget, and that’s that we as conservatives believe in the state.
“What Ben demonstrates is by taking people’s money and not raising their taxes, by making sure that you use the power of the state to fix what the state can fix, you can leverage private money and you can do something remarkable.”
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Mr Tugendhat doubled down on his wish to withdraw from certain aspects of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
He said: “You need to opt out of the bits that make it harder for you to keep Britain safe. Where you can’t opt out, you need to get reform. If it really is unreformable, then you need to leave.”
James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, said he wanted to “nick all of Ben Houchen’s good ideas and deploy them more widely”, such as cutting red tape to boost investment.
Calling on the party to “get our act together”, he added: “This isn’t about us. This isn’t about the party. This is about the country.”
Dame Priti Patel, the former home secretary, said the Tories should begin selecting candidates for the next general election “right away” to take the fight to Labour.