Conservative leadership hopefuls defend their approach to Northern Ireland
Three of the four Tory leadership candidates have said that they are committed to a Northern Ireland within the UK, despite only one of the contenders going to an NI event.
The News Letter tried to speak to the four finalists to succeed Rishi Sunak – Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat – after each made a pitch at the Conservative conference in Birmingham .
On the final day of the four-day event the quartet were given 30 minutes each to set out their vision for the party. Their speeches took the place of the normal final day leader address to Tory delegates.
But on Tuesday evening prior to their appearances, only one of the four attended a Northern Ireland reception held by Conservative members in the province. Traditionally, the party leader goes to that event, even if they are prime minister with an intensely busy schedule.
NI Tories had been led to believe that all four contenders would speak to them. While there was no expectation of a long address from any of the would-be leaders, Conservatives from the province had hoped that each would say a few words.
We reported yesterday on how the event began at 6pm, amid a buzz of expectation at the coming guests, but it gradually became apparent that few, if any, of the leadership candidates were in fact going to turn up (here is a link to that report). Tom Tugendhat did appear after 8pm, but by then only a handful of guests were still present.
During yesterday’s speeches to the entire party, the various candidates made references to such notions as their love for the UK and all its parts. So we then tried to catch the four contenders as they emerged from their speeches in the International Convention Centre.
The question we put to James Cleverly was typical of what we asked the others: “Mr Cleverly, you said you were a unionist to your bootstraps just now, but there was a Northern Ireland reception last night and only one of the four candidates even showed up and you weren't one of them. It would only have taken five minutes of your time, I am just wondering how you react to how that looked for your commitment to the UK?”
Mr Cleverly replied: “So I went to Northern Ireland on a number of occasions when I was foreign secretary. I spoke with all the parties represented in Northern Ireland. My passion for Northern Ireland as part of the UK is as passionate as my belief that Braintree [his constituency in Essex] is part of the UK.
“At party conference there are always more events than hours in the day, I wasn't able to make that. I wanted to but I wasn't able to, in the same way that there were other receptions such as the northern reception, the east of England reception, my own area, that I wasn't able to get. Next conference as leader I will try to get to as many as possible but please know that my commitment to Northern Ireland is absolutely unshakeable.”
We also began to ask him about the Irish Sea border but he turned to another journalist’s question.
The News Letter then asked Robert Jenrick, perhaps the front-runner in the race, about the fact that his speech mentioned the overlapping identities within the UK, such as British and Northern Irish. We put it to him that the fact that only one candidate turned up at the NI reception, not including him, had been a big disappointment to NI Conservatives so how did he reconcile that with what he was saying?
Mr Jenrick replied: “Well let me say I'm the only candidate in this race who has been to Northern Ireland, in fact it was one of the first things I did, I met Northern Ireland Conservatives in Belfast, I met the business community, so I feel very strongly that I have to represent all four nations of the United Kingdom in this role and that is exactly what I have done in the leadership race.”
[We think Mr Jenrick meant that he was the only candidate to have been to NI during the leadership race, as opposed to ever, but he was answering many media queries so we did not get time to clarify that with him].
Kemi Badenoch was the only one of the four candidates not to speak to the press after her speech, but other political supporters of hers did, such as Jesse Norman MP. When we mentioned her absence at the NI reception, Mr Norman replied: “I don't know anything about that but I can tell you she is as passionate about the importance of keeping Northern Ireland in the Union and listening to Northern Ireland voices as any of the people on that podium today if not more so.”
The web version of this article will include a video where you can see us trying to put the question to Ms Badenoch herself as she walked through the convention centre, but her aides kept her moving as she smiled and began to reply but in a way that was indecipherable.
We also spoke to Mr Tugendhat, and mentioned that while he went to the NI event it was so late it was largely over. He said he had "spent an awful lot of time” going to the province “so to me it wasn't really a very striking thing to do. It's not just a political stunt, I have always … been passionate about our Union and been to Northern Ireland many, many times. In fact one of my best friends in politics is Doug Beattie who was leader of the Ulster Unionists, we served together in Afghanistan”.
Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter editor