In the midst of their listless election campaign last summer, the Conservatives held a glitzy fundraising dinner at the Hurlingham Club in west London. Rishi Sunak was in York for a TV debate so, in his absence, the bash was hosted by James Cleverly, the home secretary at the time, and his wife, Susie. The Cleverlys’ well-pitched speeches and popularity among Tory donors were widely remarked upon by those present. “It felt like the Cleverly show, even though Priti [Patel] and Kemi [Badenoch] were there,” a Tory insider recalled. “It showed how enmeshed they are in the whole family and how much goodwill there is for them.” The question for Cleverly is whether that goodwill is enough for the Conservatives to crown him as their new leader. The Braintree MP, who has held a string of ministerial roles, is one of four leadership candidates who are making their pitches at the party’s annual conference in Birmingham. For someone who claimed at first that he would not stand, Cleverly’s performance so far has been unexpectedly strong – something he is not shy about pointing out. He told the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast: “I’ve outperformed all the other runners and riders by a country mile … If you Tipp-Exed the words ‘James Cleverly’ off my political CV and slid it across the desk, you’d look at it and go, ‘bloody hell’.” Cleverly’s background is unusual in Tory politics and supporters say this helps explain his appeal. Born in 1969 to a midwife from Sierra Leone and a surveyor from Wiltshire, he was raised in a one-bedroom flat near Hither Green in south-east London. He was elected to parliament in 2015 having first served as a deputy mayor in London under Boris Johnson, where he worked on tackling youth violence. He mixes qualities of the One Nation caucus and of the Tory right: he backed Brexit in 2016 and has an army background, while at the same time has been outspoken about his party needing to appeal to ethnic minorities and young people. His strongest points are his affability and skills as a communicator. He has performed best in roles where those qualities are key: he was a popular party chair and, in Whitehall and diplomatic circles, a well-regarded foreign secretary. A shadow minister who is not backing Cleverly likened him to the former prime minister Stanley Baldwin, whose steady persona was reassuring to the public during the interwar period. “He has a blokeish and Baldwinesque quality which appeals within the wider electorate,” this MP said. For others Cleverly is a unifying, Michael Howard-type figure. “The main thing about James Cleverly is that no one dislikes him. Every other candidate has maybe more pros, but also more cons,” the Tory insider said. “The party as a whole has gone through a pretty nasty time … A lot of people do just want a leader who will give us a quieter life. Jenrick or Kemi, they’re both quite pugilistic figures. Cleverly is not – he’ll be very good at the dispatch box, he’s been well tested.” A former government adviser who worked with Cleverly for a long time said: “He’s a strong candidate. He’s popular, a hard worker, everybody likes him – he’s very hard not to like. A very straightforward type of guy. But is he hard enough? This is probably the worst job you can have.” Cleverly’s critics argue that he lacks any political vision or serious solutions to the party’s problems, and is simply championing unity for unity’s sake. One former special adviser remarked: “The party is having an extended leadership contest to find out what it really stands for. Given James doesn’t know what he himself stands for then electing him as leader may well be apt.” Liz Truss, who made Cleverly foreign secretary, a role he retained under Rishi Sunak, told friends at a drinks reception after she left Downing Street: “James does as he’s told.”
His propensity for gaffes has sometimes got him into trouble. He was made to apologise for a joke about “date rape” drugs at a Downing Street party, when he said that “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”. Research by More in Common suggests this incident cut through to the public. Cleverly is also said to have described the Tory policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda – a plan he wants to resurrect – as “batshit”, which Labour turned into an effective attack line before the election. A spokesperson for the Cleverly campaign said: “For the last six years James has been a team player, serving party, government and country loyally. He is now running to unite and lead that team. He has a conservative vision for the future of our country, of a safer and more prosperous Britain with a smaller state, stronger defence and proper border control. And he has the skill and experience to deliver it.” Cleverly and his three rivals have spent the past fortnight campaigning and preparing for the party conference in Birmingham, where they will each be given 20 minutes to make their pitch from the stage on Wednesday. Afterwards, in two rounds of voting, Tory MPs will whittle down the list of candidates from four to two, with the winner chosen by a vote of the party grassroots. Robert Jenrick and Badenoch are in the lead among MPs, but if centrist Tories unite behind one candidate – either Cleverly or the former security minister Tom Tugendhat – that could change. “A lot will depend on conference,” the Tory insider said. “If Cleverly makes a really good speech and if he can scoop up the moderate vote amongst MPs, then he will do well. If it’s Cleverly vs Jenrick in the final, it’s too close to call.”