James Cleverly is running for the Tory leadership (Image: Getty)
Conservative leadership contender James Cleverly has pledged to end the “Tory psychodrama” and recruit 300 candidates to fight target seats in the next 18 months.
The former party chairman has warned his colleagues they do not have a “second to waste” and promises to overhaul the CCHQ headquarters so best possible staff are in place.
Mr Cleverly will be grilled this week at the party conference in Birmingham on how he would lead a party still reeling from the July election which left it with just 121 MPs.
He is adamant the cannot win unless the civil wars stop.
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“The truth is that we need to end the Tory psychodrama that has damaged our party for so long,” he said. “We cannot expect our members and volunteers to be out campaigning while the parliamentary party rips itself apart in Westminster.
“Fixing our party will take work, and speed – I am ready for that challenge and I will deliver from day one.”
The Shadow Home Secretary said that the Labour Government had caused “untold damage in just weeks”.
Warning fellow who are struggling to come to terms with the party’s rejection at the ballot box that “time is not a luxury we have,” he said: “If we are to get back to winning ways before the next set of local elections in May, we need to get to work. To win the next general election we need to be fighting hard in over 400 seats.
“That means getting at least 300 excellent conservative candidates selected in our targets around the country in the next 18 months. This is no mean feat, and there is more to do.”
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He has also promised a greater say for rank and file in the running of the party. Every member would have a vote on their parliamentary candidates with “no more stitch-up selections orchestrated in the Westminster bubble”.
Mr Cleverly also wants specialists from outside Westminster brought in to help the party and harness the latest election-winning technology.
A further goal is restoring the office of party chairman to the “stature it had in Margaret Thatcher’s day” when the role was held by figures including Cecil Parkinson, Norman Tebbit and Kenneth Baker.
Under his plans the chairman will sit next to him in shadow cabinet meetings and his or her “voice will always be heard”.