James Cleverly is the person to get Tories battle-ready once again, says Blake Stephenson

Instead, we were left with just 121 MPs, in the worst electoral performance in our party’s history.

The truth is that our defeat was founded on poor behaviour in Westminster, which overshadowed the incredible things that successive Conservative governments had delivered.

The electorate quite rightly judged us on ‘partygate’, the ‘mini-budget’, and the impacts of Covid on both the economy and our NHS.

We can and will turn things around. But we first need to earn the right to be listened to, by doing our constitutional duty well holding Keir Starmer and his Labour government to account.

He promised not to raise taxes; he is raising them. His manifesto promised to reduce your energy bills, but he is hiking bills for millions of pensioners this winter by taking away winter fuel payments.

So, our priority must be to elect a strong and experienced leader who will provide the scrutiny that the British public rightly expect.

But we also need to provide a positive and ambitious conservative vision for our country. A country which provides young people with the opportunities of a great education, to own a home, to start their own businesses, and to bring up a family; ensuring that aspiration and hard work are rewarded once again.

I have entered Parliament not knowing any of the leadership candidates. I have no loyalties and have not sought promises. Instead, I have spent time with each candidate, and I have listened.

I want to know that our new leader will listen, lead with values, and embrace the broadest possible talent to rebuild our great party, and provide the broadest possible appeal.

James Cleverly has explained why Conservative solutions are the right solutions to the enormous challenges our country is facing - an unstable world, high migration, and a crisis of confidence in capitalism.

And he has a plan to show young people that capitalism will drive opportunity for them, by giving them a stake in our society and our growing economy.

He is a listener. But he is also a great communicator, giving us the best opportunity to articulate our values of family, home ownership, free markets, less red tape and lower taxes.

And he also has an unrivalled breadth of experience, having served as Foreign and Home Secretary, and as Party Chairman.

He was at the helm of our Party when we achieved the 80-seat majority that broke the deadlock and allowed us to get Brexit done. He knows how to get us battle-ready once again.

We do not need to reinvent or renew core Conservative values. We know what they are, and if we can unite around them, we will be ready for the next election. James is the person to lead us in that mission. And if we begin our fightback now, we will start to see results - including at the local elections next May.

We have a great deal of work ahead of us, but if we make the right decision now then we can win back people’s trust, unleash Britain from the tightening grip of socialism, and start to rebuild our great country on the foundations of aspiration, hard work, and reward.

Blake Stephenson is the Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire