A Conservative MP said he will nominate Dame Priti Patel to be the next Tory leader as the battle to replace Rishi Sunak approaches its first key moment. 

Nominations in the contest will open tonight at 7pm and will close at 2.30pm on July 29. Candidates will need the support of 10 Tory MPs in order to make it onto the ballot paper, with a winner due to be announced on November 2. 

Sir Alec Shelbrooke said he will be nominating Dame Priti, the former home secretary, as he believed she is “respected on all wings of the party”. 

He told GB News: “I will be nominating Priti Patel because I think Priti has not just the pragmatic approach to all the issues but she was also there, brought into CCHQ, by Cecil Parkinson in 1997 about how to rebuild the Conservative Party after that defeat. 

“You get this pattern in government, that after a long period of time in government, the structure starts to fall down. You think it would do the opposite, but it doesn’t. You’re so busy on governing that the structure falls down. That is task number one. 

“Priti has had senior roles and she’s respected on all wings of the party, and I think that’s an important point. And it comes back to we’ve got to have a conservative leader representing the Conservative Party and get away from these different gangs that have formed and have been fighting with each other.”

James Cleverly is the only candidate to have formally declared their candidacy so far but a handful of other senior figures are expected to throw their hat in the ring.

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