In an interview with i the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary puts defence spending at the heart of his campaign
Mel Stride near parliament as he announces that he will stand as a candidate in the upcoming leadership elections for the Conservative Party. Photographer/copyright Justin SutcliffeDefence spending should hit 3 per cent of GDP by 2030 as the world gets more “difficult and dangerous,” Conservative MP Mel Stride said as he launched his bid to lead his party.
Stride’s 3 per cent raises all these pledges and is designed to appeal to conservative hawks and grassroots activists among whom defence is a key priority. Mel Stride was praised by fellow Conservatives for the number of media rounds he did as Work and Pensions Secretary.Around 100,000 party members will then vote with the result announced on 2 November. Higher defence spending and an Atlanticist approach to foreign affairs polls well with traditional Conservative voters.because she lacks support from colleagues.
For some Conservatives a pro-American tilt also involves moving away from Europe. Membership of the European Court of Human Rights has become the acid test of this leadership race, after Brexit failed to bring the control of borders many in the party had wished for. He became MP for Central Devon in 2010. Between 2017 and 2019 he held several ministerial posts in the Treasury under Theresa May and had a one-month stint as Commons leader in 2019 following the resignation of Andrea Leadsom.
“What we must not allow is for the ECHR or for anything else that is not within our own sovereignty to get in the way of having an effective deterrent with dealing with illegal migration. One Tory colleague describes the media round slog – which involves getting up at four in the morning and doing six interviews before 9 am – as a “wall of death”. Did Stride, perhaps, enjoy them?
One of the front-runners for the leadership, Kemi Badenoch, 44, has so far refused to give any indication of when, or even if, she will stand for the position.
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