Hunt is the unity candidate who can deliver Brexit and defeat Labour

‘His personal style and collegiate nature would enable him to utilise all the best talents the party has’

While the focus of any leadership contest, especially in the media, tends to be on the perceived weaknesses, misdemeanours or failings of individual candidates, what has struck me in the current process has been the quality of the contenders. At parliamentary hustings and elsewhere, there has been a depth of talent on show that bodes well for the Conservative Party and the country. Even the candidates who have been eliminated conducted themselves with a level of competence, flair and good grace that will have enhanced their standing among their colleagues.

As a committed Brexiteer, some expressed surprise that I am backing Jeremy Hunt to be the next party leader and prime minister. Yet governing the country can never be about one issue, and we discovered at the 2017 election how hard it is to keep the attention of the electorate and the media on a single message for any length of time. Jeremy has had responsibility in government for a wide range of issues, including delivering the Olympics and presiding over the NHS for six years. As foreign secretary, he has shown an instinctive grasp of international affairs.

The task facing the next prime minister is formidable. A change in personnel will not change our parliamentary arithmetic. We will still be a minority government trying to deliver the result of the referendum in a House of Commons with a majority who chose to remain. There are three things that our new leader needs the skills to achieve – delivering Brexit, uniting a fractious party and defeating the toxic threat of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour at the next general election. I believe Jeremy Hunt is well placed to achieve all three.

Delivering Brexit is a prerequisite for Conservative electoral success. That is one of the reasons why Labour are attempting to block it despite the risks to the Labour Leave vote in their traditional heartlands.

No Brexit, or another referendum, would be a betrayal of the voters of our country who were made a promise that their decision would be honoured and implemented. My preference would be to leave the EU with a deal, but if that cannot be achieved, we need to leave without one. Jeremy’s assurance that he would always choose no deal ahead of no Brexit was essential for me to support him.

The attention that the party receives during and after a leadership election can be a wonderful opportunity to reaffirm what the party believes in. We need to remember that we avoid external coalitions by maintaining an internal one and that the party is at its strongest when we remain a broad church. I believe that the personal style and collegiate nature that Jeremy has shown during his time in government would enable him to create a uniting team, utilising all the best talents that the party has to offer.

The next leader will need to take us into a general election to defeat the threat posed by the most Left-wing Labour opposition that any of us can remember. We will need to appeal to younger voters and warn them that high-spending Labour governments not only tend to leave high unemployment in their wake but also the taxes that they will levy could leave the next generation paying higher taxes for their entire working lives. Jeremy has been a successful entrepreneur and understands what it is like to start and nurture business. He has turned a marginal seat into one that now has a 21,000 majority, so he knows how to campaign.

He can speak to all parts of the United Kingdom and all age groups, widening the party’s appeal and ensuring that we play a full part in the next chapter of our nation’s history – not for our sake but for the prosperity and security of the British people.