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James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, has ruled out accepting a frontbench role from the next Conservative Party leader following the immediate reshuffle expected after the winner is announced on Saturday. Cleverly was briefly a frontrunner in the leadership race to replace Rishi Sunak following his well-received speech to the Conservative conference early last month, but was unexpectedly knocked out in the final ballot of MPs in favour of Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick. Cleverly said he had been “liberated” from 16 years of political duties and was now “not particularly in the mood to be boxed back into a narrow band again”.
Cleverly, a former home and foreign secretary, noted theories behind his unexpected elimination included his supporters having tried to engineer the final line-up they wanted. He declined to say who of the final two he had backed, but both Badenoch and Jenrick signalled they would offer him a position in their shadow cabinets. Jenrick made leaving the European Convention on Human Rights a key plank of his leadership offer, with Cleverly rejecting the idea.
Although Cleverly has left the door open to a future bid to become leader of the Conservative Party, he has suggested he will not seek a senior political role anytime soon, stating he was not “in the mood to be boxed back into a narrow band again”. When asked about his future political plans, Cleverly hinted that he may consider running for mayor of London in 2028, emphasising the need to “fight back in big, big, big chunks of the country.”
Cleverly’s departure from frontbench politics may make little immediate impact as the party battles an increase in COVID-19 cases and vaccination rates, along with rising energy and food prices. The scramble to address these urgent issues will remain central following the announcement of the next Conservative Party leader
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