Mel Stride and Robert Jenrick join UK Conservative Party leadership race

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LONDON (Reuters) – Former government ministers Mel Stride and Robert Jenrick have entered the race to become the next leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, which lost power after 14 years at this month’s election.

Former prime minister Rishi Sunak said he would step down as leader following the party’s worst ever election performance, but would stay as acting leader until his successor was chosen.

Stride, a former Work and Pensions Secretary who was also previously a junior Treasury minister, has been a member of parliament since 2010.

“I think we have a huge job to do and I think that I’m the right person to put myself forward to do that,” Stride told Sky News on Friday. “We’ve got to focus on the future and that is about winning back trust.”

Former immigration minister Jenrick added ‘running to be the next Leader of the Conservatives’ to his biography on X and launched a leadership campaign website.

The pair join former security minister Tom Tugendhat and former foreign minister James Cleverly who have already put themselves forward, with several others expected to join the contest before nominations close on Monday.

The leadership contest will see the party’s elected lawmakers first narrow the field to four candidates who will make their case at the Conservative Party conference which begins in late September.

The number of candidates will then be narrowed down to two, who will be put forward to a vote of all party members. The new leader will be named on Nov. 2.