James Cleverly received a major boost in a crucial conference test (Image: Getty)
James Cleverly wants to bring the spirit of Ronald Reagan to the Tory party as he enters a critical week in his bid to win the leadership race.
He aspires to lead the back into power with the conviction, confidence, empathy and optimism which helped Reagan deliver landslide victories.
This week Conservative MPs will decide which two of the remaining four candidates should be eliminated from the leadership contest – with the party membership then getting to choose which of the surviving duo will lead the party of Thatcher and Churchill.
The former Foreign Secretary received a major boost at last week’s Conservative conference when his speech won cheers and a standing ovation, with bookies slashing his odds from 10/1 to 7/2.
Mr Cleverly told the Sunday Express the conference was an “acid test” which proved he has what it takes to lead the party in the wake of the summer’s devastating election defeat.
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Describing how he takes inspiration from Reagan, he said: “His nickname was the Great Communicator.
“Both when he spoke of his dreams and desires for America and the American people, or when he had to deal with tragedies like the deaths of the American astronauts, he was able to really reach into not just the heads but the hearts of the American people.
“I think that’s what we need to do. We need to understand that we need to rebuild a relationship with the British people, a relationship of trust.
“Then they will listen to us again, then they will vote for us again.”
This week he will cast himself as the best candidate to “reignite the energy of those millions of former Conservative voters” who sat the last election out.
The former party chairman has pledged to “restructure CCHQ so we can actually get back into the habit of winning elections”.
He said: “I’ve got the experience and this is no time for an apprentice.”
The 55-year-old had looked forward to the Birmingham conference, seeing this as the “time when I could really show why I’m standing”.
“This is my tribe,” he said of the men and women who attended the gathering. “This is my clan.”
can beat ’s Reform UK, he argues, not by imitating their rival to the Right but by being their “best version of ourselves”.
He says he has a “clear vision” for what the can achieve in Government and a “real optimism that the UK of the future can be better than the UK of the past”.
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Mr Cleverly has not matched Mr Jenrick’s pledge to leave the ECHR and instead points to his own record as Home Secretary.
“I brought down net migration which is now projected to fall by 300,000 people a year, not by complaining or moaning or walking away from the problem but by gripping it,” he said.
“That’s what the British people want – they don’t want us to talk about problems, they want us to fix problems.”
In his conference speech, he urged the party to be “more normal” and sell the benefits of a Conservative government “with a smile”.
The party must be able to relate to modern Britain, he insists.
“We serve the British people,” he said. “We should be more like the people we wish to serve.”