Tories turn on 'not credible' Suella Braverman over her overtures to Nigel Farage's Reform as James Cleverly warns party must regain credibility under its next leader - and poll suggests Kemi Badenoch is in poll position

Senior Tories have turned on Suella Braverman over her overtures to Nigel Farage as the battle for the control of the Conservative Party deepens.

The former home secretary was branded 'not credible' after repeated overtures to Reform, urging it to join forces with the Tories and refusing to rule out defecting herself.

Lord Houchen, the peer and Tees Valley mayor, said she was 'not credible' and warned that if she became leader 'we can absolutely see ourselves in opposition for generations to come'.

And leadership rival Kemi Badenoch is reported to have suggested she was having a nervous breakdown in public - after herself having launched a blistering Cabinet table attack on Rishi Sunak over his decision to call an election in July.

Ms Badenoch, the shadow housing secretary, is the favourite of the Tory membership to take over from Mr Sunak, a new poll suggests.  

It came as shadow home secretary James Cleverly warned against 'bitter infighting',  warning that the Conservatives needed to swiftly 'get their act together'.

The party needs to conduct a 'sensible post mortem on what went wrong and finding the right path forwards', he wrote in The Times.

Ms Braverman is also said to have lost the support of senior allies including Sir John Hayes, her long-time close associate. He is believed to be supporting ex-immigration minister Robert Jenrick.

Last month during the election campaign she told the Tories to embrace Nigel Farage as she called on the party to 'unite the right'.

She opened the door for the Reform UK leader to join the Conservative party by saying she would welcome him into the ranks.

But Lord Houchen told Times Radio: 'The fact that she continues to entertain Reform, and even I think in an interview the other day, didn't rule out joining Reform, shows just how out of step she is. 

'I also think if the Conservative Party decides to go down the route of somebody like Suella Braverman, then we can absolutely see ourselves in opposition for generations to come. 

'The road of redemption for the Conservative Party can be as long or as short as we wish to make it. And the idea that we should be more right wing...that is not the Conservative Party that I recognise. 

'And I absolutely wouldn't support that. She, before the leadership contest has even started, has shot herself in the foot.'

Ms Badenoch seems to be the candidate to beat in a leadership election later this year - quite when is yet to be decided.

Right-wingers and more moderate Tories are expected to battle it out for the top job in a contest that could shape the party for years to come.

Mr Sunak last week announced he would step down as party leader once the formal arrangements for choosing a successor are in place.

Yesterday Ms Badenoch brutally attacked Mr Sunak to his face, saying his decision not to inform Opposition frontbenchers before calling the July 4 election bordered on 'unconstitutional'. 

She also said his choice to return early from D-Day commemorations may have cost former Cabinet colleagues their seats.

Ms Badenoch also branded Mr Sunak's closest parliamentary aide Craig Williams, who placed a bet on the date of last week's vote, a 'buffoon'.

The ex-Business Secretary, warning that colleagues have not understood the 'enormity' of the situation, also said she was speaking for former colleagues who had lost their seat in the landslide defeat.

She, Ms Braverman and Mr Cleverly  are expected to run.  Dame Priti Patel, who served as home secretary between July 2019 and September 2022, Mr Jenrick, who previously served as immigration minister, and ex-health secretary Victoria Atkins could also put themselves forward. 

Jeremy Hunt, the former chancellor and a centrist figure in the party, has ruled out running.

Tory MPs usually vote to select the top two candidates to put forward as potential leaders, with the party membership choosing the ultimate winner.

However, the rules and timeline of the race would be set out by the backbench 1922 Committee, which has elected Bob Blackman as its new chair.

Tory MP Mark Francois said the vote to choose the new chair was 'bent' after he attempted to vote but was turned away.

Voting took place in the Houses of Parliament between 5pm and 5.30pm on Tuesday, but some MPs were told in an email they could vote until 6pm, the PA news agency understands.

'This election was bent,' Mr Francois said as he left the room. 'I think the 1922's level of competence has reached a new low.'

It came as Lord Frost urged the Tories to appoint an interim leader to stop the race to replace Rishi Sunak 'immediately descending into mudslinging'. 

The former cabinet minister, who was the UK's chief Brexit negotiator, said the party must not be 'rushed' in selecting a new leader.

Lord Frost warned against 'descending into the mudslinging of a rushed leadership election', telling a Popular Conservatism event: 'I can't see why we shouldn't have an interim leader and time to debate things properly.'

Speaking to the architects of the election defeat, he said: 'Those who decided upon the political strategy that got us here, those who stuck to it in the face of clear evidence it was failing and those who then slandered and tried to kneecap their opponents in the party, they need to get off the stage as soon as possible and let the rest of us move on.' 

The Tory peer said the Conservative Party is in a 'moment of calamity', and must accept the 'painful reality' that 'for the time being nobody out there is that much interested in what we think'.

But he called on activists to 'hold our nerve about traditional Conservative ideas and values' and to build the 'largest possible winning coalition' ahead of the next election.

'If we can do this then perhaps there will be no need for Reform,' he added.

Former Tory leader Lord Hague, meanwhile, told a Tony Blair Institute conference yesterday that the party should maintain 'maximum distance' from Nigel Farage's Reform party.

He said it would take 'a very long time' for the Tories to recover from their crushing defeat last week, and said the leadership contest should take time.

He also admitted it was a mistake to allow party members to elect the leader. 'Things have changed since then,' Lord Hague said.

'Political parties have become much smaller in base membership. The Conservative party certainly has, so that it becomes very, very unrepresentative, even of the voters of that party. So I would give that back to the members of parliament.'

Last night, the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs elected Bob Blackman as chairman after Sir Graham Brady stood down as an MP.

Mr Blackman wrote to MPs earlier this week saying the party 'must take our time' with the leadership race.