STAUNCH Brexiteer Steve Baker has announced he may run in a leadership contest to replace Boris Johnson, who is resigning as Prime Minister.
The former chair of the European Research Group, who is often described as being on the right-wing of his party and classed as a libertarian by many, suggested he would be a “true blue” Conservative leader and said lowering taxes would be one of his main priorities.
Baker, who has also expressed scepticism over the reality of climate change, told the BBC that he is confident about his party’s future because the UK public are all “basically Tories”.
“The Conservative Party endures,” he told the BBC when asked if he felt Johnson had damaged his party.
READ MORE: Suella Braverman: Top Tory announces leadership designs live on Peston
“I believe in the Conservative Party,” he went on. “I believe the people of this country are basically Tories even if sometimes they vote Labour.
“I think we should make no mistake that the next government will either be Labour-led, probably with the SNP, or Conservative-led. And it really should be an outright Conservative majority delivering on this direction of travel for our country.”
He went on to say he was “seriously” thinking about running for the leadership, because Conservative Home readers regularly put Baker in their top 10 of senior figures.
Asked what his main message of the contest would be, Baker said he would focus on delivering on the current Tory manifesto rather than “high-drama politics”.
“Beyond that we’ve got to look really seriously at who we want to be. I’m certain the British public can rise to the challenge of the moment. We have got to deal with the economy, energy policy, we have got to make sure the people of this country are ever more prosperous, happy and free.
“I’d be a true blue Conservative but one who’s modern, much more relational, open.
“I plan to get politics out of people’s lives. Our lives at the moment are blinded by politically motivated campaigns. With all sorts of nonsense. This used to be a tolerant country where people could agree to disagree and go their own way in peace. Now you get cancelled and shut down, that sort of thing must end.”
However he stressed his main aim is to get taxes down from their current high.
Attorney General Suella Braverman has also announced that she intends to run for the leadership job.
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