Tory rivals are playing nice so far but like a family Christmas old scores are bound to surface | Isabel Hardman

Tory rivals are playing nice so far but like a family Christmas old scores are bound to surface | Isabel Hardman

The Conservatives would be better able to stand one another if the party could work out what it actually stands for

Is the Tory leadership contest about to get interesting? That question contains the assumption that you’ve not actually spent all summer glued to the twists and turns of whether Mel Stride is going to overtake Kemi Badenoch in the race to drink from a poisoned chalice. The chances are that most people have probably given more thought to the Lib Dems recently than they have to the Tories. But that could change.

It hasn’t been much of a fight so far. One reason is that the candidates are largely touring the country doing private hustings events with members and talking to local associations. This has the benefit of being behind closed doors – a benefit felt both by the contenders, who can speak more freely, and by the press, who don’t have to listen to the same stock phrase adapted for a Devon and then a Sunderland audience on consecutive days. Another is that the candidates have been banned from attacking one another personally under the new “yellow card” system, which is designed to stop the contest from descending into the sort of public bickering that cost the party the general election.

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