James Cleverly reveals this game nearly stopped him running as Tory leader
Tory leadership hopeful James Cleverly has revealed his love for Warhammer gave him pause before he decided to run for the top job.
The shadow home secretary is one of four candidates appearing on stage in Birmingham today to pitch themselves to MPs and party members ahead of the next round of voting.
He pitched himself as someone with the experience needed to lead the country in a dangerous world, after spells as foreign secretary and home secretary.
But Cleverly revealed he didn’t initially want to run for Conservative leader and was prepared to put his feet up after his time in government.
He told the crowd: ‘I could have taken the easy option, sat this one out, spent more time with my wife, with my boys, with my Warhammer figures.
‘But I went into politics to get things done, not watch from the sidelines.
‘And all the more so after the defeat that we’ve just had, I need to do this for the party that I love and for the country that I love.’
Cleverly has been open about his love for Warhammer – a tabletop game revolving around tiny figurines of fantasy characters – in the past.
Shortly after the General Election this year, he tweeted a picture of himself holding a pair of painted miniature models up to the camera.
Shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick and shadow housing secretary Kemi Badenoch are also making their case in Birmingham on the final day of the Conservative conference.
The group of four will be whittled down to two next week, when MPs decide who will end up in front of Conservative Party members for the final vote. The winner will be announced on November 2.
Tom Tugendhat
Cleverly took to the stage after shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat, who argued for a ‘Conservative revolution’ and touted his past in the Territorial Army, fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said: ‘My opponents claim that they have got more management experience around the cabinet table. It is true, but I am not here to manage, I am here to lead.
‘My friends, you know it. We are not going to change this party and this country with the same management, the same mantra, the same slogan.’
Robert Jenrick
Jenrick argued for a ‘new Conservative Party’ to rebuild after the worst defeat in the its history.
He said: ‘We are the lucky inheritors of unparalleled national identities – British, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, English.
‘And our new Conservative Party will stand for carrying the torch for these identities and handing it on to our children and our grandchildren with pride, with passion and with purpose.’
Kemi Badenoch
The former business secretary has had a relatively rough conference, fighting off accusations that she believes maternity pay is ‘excessive’ following a radio interview.
Her speech focused on targets including net zero and immigration, and she also gave a personal account of her childhood in Nigeria.
She said: ‘I was born here, but I grew up in a place where fear was everywhere.
‘You cannot understand it unless you’ve lived it – triple-checking that all the doors and windows are locked, waking up in the night at every sound, listening as you hear your neighbours scream, as they are being burgled and beaten and wondering if your home will be next.’
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