Fox enters the race as ‘voice of experience’

LIAM Fox will today highlight his humble background and his experience as he launches his bid to win the Tory crown.

The former defence secretary and prominent Leave supporter will throw his hat into the ring 11 years after coming third to David Cameron in the last Tory contest.

To distance himself from Boris Johnson, Dr Fox, pictured, will make meritocracy a key plank of his campaign.

In an interview last night, he pointed out that his grandparents had been miners, that he grew up in a council house and went to a comprehensive. Mr Johnson went to Eton and Oxford.

Dr Fox resigned as defence secretary in 2011 after being found guilty of breaching the ministerial code over his links with self-styled adviser Adam Werritty.

He will hope to draw support from the right of the party. There had been rumours he was hoping to reach a deal with Home Secretary Theresa May in the hope of a good job should she win.

But yesterday he told LBC radio he would be standing in his own right.

Asked why he would be a better candidate than Mr Johnson, Dr Fox said: ‘It’s a question of nuance, of experience, of background, which of course matters in politics. We need to restore more of the ideas of meritocracy. I don’t come from a traditional Conservative background.

‘My grandparents were miners and my father was a teacher. I grew up in a council house and went to a comprehensive school.

‘Where I grew up in the west of Scotland you didn’t do that because you were intent on a political career.’

Dr Fox said he also offered the accumulated wisdom of his long experience in politics, adding: ‘Having grey hairs has some advantages.’

While Dr Fox has run a Whitehall department, the Ministry of Defence, Mr Johnson has never been a minister although he was London mayor for eight years.

Dr Fox’s campaign manager will be Sir Gerald Howarth, a former defence minister. Another five MPs backed him.