4 candidates to lead Britain’s defeated Conservatives bash Labour, and each other

Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — The four contenders to lead Britain’s Conservative Party have taken turns to argue why they have what it takes to lead the right-of-center party back from a catastrophic election defeat. Former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, ex-Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, former Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and ex-Security Minister Tom Tugendhat each made impassioned speeches at the party’s annual conference. They want to persuade party members that they can beat Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party and return the Conservatives to power at the next election due by 2029. That’s a tall order. U.K. voters comprehensively rejected the Tories in a July election after years of division, scandal and economic tumult.