Sunak tells Conservatives ‘learn lessons’ of defeat as party gathers

LONDON: Former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday urged his Conservative Party to “learn the lessons” of their crushing election defeat as it gathered to begin electing a new leader.

The four-day meeting in Birmingham, central England, comes three months after the Tories were ousted from power by Labour, with Keir Starmer taking over as prime minister.

“This is our first conference in opposition since 2009,” Sunak wrote in parliament´s The House magazine.

“We need to learn the lessons of our defeat: we did not get everything right in government -- no government ever does -- and we do now need to reflect on that,” he wrote.

The party last met in opposition 15 years ago -- a year before David Cameron set them on their way to 14 years of consecutive but chaotic rule, marked by austerity, Brexit, the Covid pandemic and infighting.

The get-together will see four candidates audition in front of parliamentary colleagues and grassroots members as they bid to replace Sunak as the next Tory leader.

Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat will all make pitches from the stage as well as face questions from the floor in the main hall at the International Convention Centre in Britain´s second-largest city. Immigration will be one of the policy areas they will be grilled on.