In a statement on X, the Chingford and Woodford Green MP said he believed Badenoch was the candidate who was ‘capable of returning the Conservative Party to its central values and core beliefs’
Iain Duncan Smith has said he will be voting for Kemi Badenoch in the Conservative Party leadership contest, which will be whittled down to two candidates later today.
In a statement on X/Twitter, the Chingford and Woodford Green MP said he believed Badenoch was the candidate who was “capable of returning the Conservatives to its central values and core beliefs.”
Writing that he also thought Badenoch was “not just the right person for today, but who can grow with the Party over the next five years”, he added that she had the “humility to learn from the terrible election result”, and the “strength to do something about it”.
Yesterday Tom Tugendhat was knocked out of the leadership race, leaving Badenoch running against James Cleverly, who appears to have the backing of most moderate Tory MPs, and Robert Jenrick, who had been seen as the frontrunner until the party conference last week.
Badenoch and Jenrick are now rushing to secure the support of the party’s right as Cleverly appears almost certain to make the final two, as Tugenhadt’s supporters are likely to support him.
Former home secretary Priti Patel went out in the first round of voting by Tory MPs in September. She was followed by shadow pensions secretary Mel Stride a week later.
From the 15th to 31st of October party members will vote for their preferred candidate before the new leader is named on 2nd November.
In previous leadership elections, Duncan Smith has also backed candidates seen to be on the party’s right; in 2022 he endorsed Liz Truss, who would go on to win the contest and serve as Prime Minister for just 49 days.
In 2019, he was appointed the campaign chairman for the membership stage of Boris Johnson’s leadership bid, while in the 2016 contest, eventually won by Theresa May, he backed Andrea Leadsom.
Alongside serving Chingford in parliament for 32 years, Duncan Smith led the Conservative Party from 2001 to 2003. In the leadership contest, he had been endorsed by both outgoing leader William Hague and Margaret Thatcher. A leadership contest was triggered in 2003 after Duncan Smith lost a no-confidence vote among parliamentary colleagues who believed he could not win a general election.
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