A senior Tory has urged Rishi Sunak to stay on as party leader until November amid divisions in the party over how long the contest to replace him should take.
Shadow foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell said he understood Mr Sunak’s “possible reticence” but spoke out against the idea of having an interim leader and argued “we should play it long”.
He said the Conservatives should “adopt a modest profile” in the wake of its drubbing in the General Election and use the party conference, starting on September 29, for a “showcasing” of contenders.
No candidate is yet to officially declare they will run for the Tory leadership.
Those believed to be preparing bids include shadow communities secretary Kemi Badenoch, shadow home secretary James Cleverly, former ministers Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick, and Tom Tugendhat, the shadow security minister.
Mr Sunak said he would step down as Tory leader once the formal arrangements for choosing his successor were in place.
But should the contest drag on, he may be unwilling to stay on, forcing the party to appoint an interim leader, with former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith among those touted.
Mr Mitchell told Times Radio on Monday: “An interim leader is not, in my view, the best option.
“The best option is to seek to persuade Rishi to remain. It’s not an enormously long time in the scope of things. It’s probably ’til mid to end November.”
He continued: “I think his instinct is almost certainly to go. I hope that he won’t.”
Mr Mitchell said he hoped the “widespread feeling of sympathy and respect” towards Mr Sunak from Tory MPs would persuade him to stay.
He also said the example of Michael Howard, who delayed his departure as Conservative leader for several months after an election defeat in 2005, should be followed.
“I think we should play it long,” Mr Mitchell said.
“Following the very significant defeat of the Conservative Party, we need to adopt a modest profile in this respect.
“I would expect also that the party conference, when people will have a look at what the Conservative Party is then saying, is the right time for this debate to take place.
“And I very much hope that what the party will decide to do is to mirror what Michael Howard did in 2005 and allow the party conference the space for candidates who are offering themselves to say what they would do for their party, say what they would do for their country, and that members of the party, Members of Parliament can then take a view as a result of that showcasing.”
But some Tories have argued that a protracted contest would leave a vacuum for Labour and Reform UK to capitalise on.
Lord Houchen, the Tory mayor of Tees Valley, on Sunday said the party should not “navel gaze for too long”, suggesting it would “turn off the public even more”.
In an open letter to leadership hopefuls on Monday, Lord Houchen, now one of the most prominent Conservative politicians in the UK, called for a rejection of “blue on blue” attacks in the race in favour of a “spirit of unity and maturity”.
In the letter, published in Conservative Home, he wrote: “Recently, there have been worrying instances that suggest the potential for our leadership contest to evolve into a fractious, personal, and divisive event. This would reflect poorly on the individuals involved, but also on the Conservative Party as a whole.”
The 1922 Committee of backbenchers will set the rules and timeline of the race for Mr Sunak’s successor.
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