James Cleverly has called for the Conservative party to unite in opposition, as the party heads into what is likely to be a bitter leadership campaign. The shadow home secretary warned his party not to descend into infighting, after explosive interventions from his fellow leadership contenders Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman. The party is about to embark on a leadership election, which is likely to take months, but is divided over everything from how long the contest should take to why the election was lost. Cleverly, who is seen as a possible leadership contender himself, wrote in the Times: “[We] cannot descend into bitter infighting and finger pointing. That is exactly how we ended up here.” And in a riposte to those who want the Tory party to move to the right, he added: “There is strength in unity, and the Conservative party has always been at its best when it embraces being a broad church. We lost voters to the left and the right, and we won’t win them all back if we narrow our offer.” Cleverly’s article comes at a sensitive moment for the party, as it prepares to embark on a leadership contest that is likely to determine its course for the next five years. The party has not yet set the rules for the leadership election and no one has formally declared themselves a candidate. The debate began to take shape on Tuesday, as Braverman, the former home secretary, gave a speech attacking liberals in her own party, while Badenoch used a meeting of the shadow cabinet to launch a blistering attack on Braverman and the party leader, Rishi Sunak. Braverman made a videotaped address to the Popular Conservatives conference in Westminster at which she called the Progress Pride flag a “monstrous thing” and criticised the “lunatic woke virus working its way through the British state”. She also accused her potential leadership rival and former Home Office colleague Robert Jenrick of being a “centrist Rishi supporter” and a remainer “from the left of the party”. Meanwhile, Badenoch reportedly told her shadow cabinet colleagues that Sunak’s decision to call an early election without informing cabinet was a mistake and his early departure from the D-day celebrations was “disastrous”. She accused her fellow MPs of failing to grasp the scale of the Tory election loss and is also reported to have accused Braverman of having a “very public” breakdown. The internal ructions over whether to appeal to centrists or those who voted for Reform UK at the last election are likely to divide the party for months, with many Conservatives calling for a contest that could last until the end of the year. The Tory MP Bob Blackman was elected as head of the powerful 1922 Committee of backbenchers on Tuesday night, and will be responsible for helping set the rules of the leadership election. Some Tory MPs want the election to run for several months, while others warn that doing so would allow Labour to frame the political debate for years to come. Blackman suggested on Wednesday he was inclined towards a longer contest, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think we’ve got to take time to reflect on the fact that we were beaten in the election, and we need to decide, as you say, which direction we choose.”