Former Tory MP Steve Baker has celebrated losing his seat at the General Election as he weighed up party leadership hopefuls.
Speaking on GB News, Baker joined the Saturday Five to assess his party’s struggles in the vote which Labour won by a landslide.
He also said he would not be supportive of Suella Braverman, the early leadership frontrunner, despite previously being in support of the former Home Secretary.
“I’m glad it’s behind me”, he admitted.
Steve Baker is relieved after losing his seat
GB NEWS / PA
“It’s so great to be free. It’s not that I disliked it, it’s just a very grave burden to represent 71-75,000 people.
“People are usually actively disinterested and when they are not, they tend to be very angry or they are in great need.
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Suella Braverman is one of the early frontrunner for the Tory leadership
PA“It’s just a great burden and I would have been happy to continue carrying that duty, but my goodness…”
Baker went on to add his two cents on the impending Tory leadership race which was sparked by Rishi Sunak’s resignation.
Despite the former Tory MP backing Suella Braverman in the past, Baker says language used by the ex-Home Secretary is enough to put him off supporting her once more.
“It’s a tricky question for me because I was very close to Suella and we’re friends”, he said.
Steve Baker joined the Saturday Five on GB News
GB NEWS
“I don’t want to be laying into her hard. We parted ways over some of the language she used which was too strident.
“I represent a very diverse community. When sensitive issues come up, we must call out bad behaviour and it’s vital we condemn individuals for their personal conduct rather than suggest a whole community is guilty.
“We wouldn’t accept that for the Jewish community, we wouldn’t accept it for black people, we shouldn’t accept it when it’s done in relation to Muslims.
“We parted ways in relation to the stridence of her language, some of it is ill-advised and not appropriate for dealing with very sensitive issues.”
The former Northern Ireland Secretary went on to criticise Braverman’s record as Home Secretary.
He argued that while the Government’s core policy was likely to blame for high immigration, Braverman should have been able to push for change more effectively.
“It’s a bit unfortunate we had such high immigration while Braverman was Home Secretary”, he said.
“No doubt that was because some of her ideas were resisted by Number 10, but part of being Home Secretary is getting your policy through collective agreement.”