Campaign can be 'lesson' for Tories - Andy Street

Former West Midlands mayor Andy Street has said his election campaign could be a "lesson" for the Conservative Party when deciding its future leader.

Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham on Tuesday, Mr Street said the Tories were making a "generation defining choice" as they decided the direction of the party.

The final four leadership candidates are using the gathering to rally for support ahead of an online ballot starting on 20 October.

Mr Street said a move to the right would be "political suicide" for the party.

Leadership candidates Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat put forward their vision for the Conservatives during a series of speeches in Birmingham on Monday, with James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick due to speak on Tuesday.

Ahead of the final round of voting, Mr Street urged his party to veer away from the "hard right", when selecting its new leader.

"I've got a very clear view that the party faces a generation defining choice at the moment," he said.

"It can chose to chase off to the right to chase the Reform vote - that would be political suicide.

"It's not where the centre of gravity of British politics and any party that drifts off to either extreme tends to be out of office for a long time.

"I want my party to get back to that centre-ground agenda.

"That's what I tried to do as mayor and of course we got a good result for the Conservatives relatively, although I lost, so there is a lesson to take from what happened here. "

Mr Street lost his place as West Midlands mayor to Labour's Richard Parker in July.

However, he performed better than many of his Tory colleagues, losing by only 0.3% of the vote.

Speaking about his replacement, Mr Street said he hoped Mr Parker would take on his own party "in the interest of the region".

"I hope he will really find his voice as a champion for this place and that will mean taking on the Labour government at the right time," he said.

Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.