Most Tory MPs want a long leadership contest to give them time to find a “credible” alternative to Labour, the shadow defence secretary has said.

James Cartlidge told Sky News his party needs a few months to “analyse what went wrong” after their “calamitous” general election results.

Politics Live: Announcement expected on migration

With details of the timeline yet to be confirmed, Mr Cartlidge said: “I’m happy to say… colleagues generally want to go long. They want to take their time over this.

“We need to take our time choosing the next leader because they need to be tested.

“We need to test what their ideas are, because what we need to get out of this is someone who can form a credible, positive alternative to Labour. And I think we should take our time over that.”

The rules of the leadership contest will be set by the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbench MPs, which last week appointed Bob Blackman as its new chair.

Politics latest: Keir Starmer greets Volodymyr Zelenskyy at UK summit of European leaders

Scale of children who have parents in prison in England and Wales revealed for first time

Beth Rigby: ‘My schedule is crazy. I couldn’t do it without my stay-at-home partner’

Mr Cartlidge said while a timeline is yet to be set, he believes “a lot will be happening in the autumn party conference”.

He said he’d like to see the event, running from 29 September to 2 October, to be “a hustings conference, a chance to have the individual candidates properly put through their paces”.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Asked if he was happy for Rishi Sunak to stay in charge during this time or if an interim leader should take over, he said “that was up to him” and the big question is who should replace him in the long term.

“It’s ultimately about what they [the next leader] stand for. And we need to have debates as a party, you know, what are our priorities going to be?”

Read more:
Rishi Sunak apologises to Tory MPs eight times at party ‘wake’
Sunak tries to defend record in King’s Speech exchanges

Hinting at what direction he’d like the party to go in, he added: “I think we need to have a broad appeal.

“We don’t want to have a knock on a door and someone’s of a certain age and they’re likely not to be voting Conservative.”

No one within the Tory party has officially announced their candidacy, though Sky News understands that former home secretary Dame Priti Patel, a favourite on the right of the party, will run.

A number of other candidates on the right are expected to throw their hats in the ring too, including Ms Patel’s successor in the Home Office, Suella Braverman, former business secretary Kemi Badenoch and ex-immigration minister Robert Jenrick.

The previous security minister Tom Tugendhat is seen as a potential successor from the party’s moderate wing, alongside former health secretary Victoria Atkins.

Others, like former Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, lost their seats in an election wipe-out that saw the once dominant party reduced to just 121 MPs.

The party is spilt on whether to gravitate back towards the centre ground, given it lost many votes to Labour and the Lib Dems, or tilt towards the right to combat the threat of Reform UK.

Related posts:

‘Possible’ putting India on red list earlier might have prevented impending lockdown delay – minister PM and Patel accused of ‘stoking’ actions of ‘vocal minority’ after racist abuse of England players ‘Important’ PM gets ‘family time’: Minister defends Boris Johnson’s holiday Hospital speaks out after PM pictured without a face mask during visit Sunak says pension tax change will reduce NHS backlog – despite only 105 doctors retiring early Sophy hands over Sunday baton | Tony Blair & Kemi Badenoch Police need more money for XL bully ban, says London mayor ‘Shame’: Sunak criticised for making transgender dig at Starmer in Commons – on day Brianna Ghey’s mother came to PMQs ‘Chaotic’ Post Office should be removed from Horizon scandal compensation process, MPs demand Child benefit calculator: Check how much extra you can get Be in the audience for our general election leaders event Starmer says Sunak was ‘bullied’ into action over gambling scandal – as police investigate ‘small number of cases’