Former Conservaive minister Steve Baker has thrown his support behind Kemi Badenoch in the Tory leadership race, claiming she is "authentic" and a "true believer" of the party.
Badenoch and Robert Jenrick became the final two candidates in the race after James Cleverly's surprise elimination on Wednesday.
Badenoch secured 42 votes, narrowly edging out Jenrick's 41, while Cleverly received 37 votes from the 120 participating Tory MPs.
Speaking on GB News, Baker explained his support for Badenoch: "I shall vote for Kemi and with a good heart too, because she's authentic and she's got a ferocious passion for what she believes."
Former Conservative minister Steve Baker has backed Kemi Badenoch to replace Rishi Sunak as party leader
PA / GB News
He praised her commitment to conservative principles, stating, "What Kemi does is she truly believes in conservative ideas, and she argues for them with great passion."
Baker contrasted this with the party's recent approach, saying: "For a long time, the Conservative Party's been all over the place because it's kind of lacked an intellectual keel. It's forgotten what it believed and followed polls rather than trying to lead them."
Baker also addressed Badenoch's stance on immigration, a key issue for the Conservative Party.
He emphasised that controlling migration would be a priority for Badenoch, noting: "The idea that anyone could lead the Conservative Party into a general election without pledging to control migration and get the numbers down, that is fanciful."
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Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick will be quizzed by Conservative Party members in a two-hour special live programme on GB NewsPA
Steve Baker claimed Badenoch is 'authentic' and 'has a ferocious passion' for what she believes in
GB News
He acknowledged past failures, telling GB News: "The Conservative Party's cried wolf for too long, and that is one of the problems we've had."
Baker also highlighted Badenoch's potential to win back voters, adding: "She’ll have to win voters back from Reform, but she’ll have to do more than that.
"She'll have to win back Conservative voters who went to the Lib Dems or went to Labour. In somewhere like Wycombe almost half of my Conservative previous voters stayed at home in disillusionment.
"And people have got to come out, they've got to come back from the Lib Dems. It's a very, very steep and tough road."
The leadership contest has highlighted the Conservative Party's need for renewal and a clear direction following their catastrophic loss at this summer's general election.
Baker emphasised this, telling host Patrick Christys: "It's got to be sorted out. And it's going to be a long journey, tough journey, to persuade the public that this time we're going to get numbers down.
"I have watched closely for 14 years as Tory leaders really haven't believed with enough sort of conviction what they were doing, and the result is that the ship of state gets tossed about.
"So for me, Kemi is a true believer in solid Conservative principles, somebody who wants renewal. She's the person for me, and I will back her wholeheartedly."
