Britain's acting Leader of the Opposition Rishi Sunak used his last address as Conservative Party leader to appeal to his comrades to put an end to their wrangling and rally around his successor.
The 44-year-old British-Indian politician, who stepped down as Tory leader in the wake of the party's bitter defeat in the general election last month, was upbeat while delivering an address to the annual Conservative Party conference in Birmingham on Sunday night.
Mr Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, were warmly received by the Tory membership present to hear him give the speech, which in turn had been modified because Sunak was standing down for the four leadership hopefuls to take centre stage in order to make their pitches to become his successor.
"I am hopeful about our country's long-term future, I am hopeful about our party's future too," Mr Sunak said, amidst thumping cheers.
" Whoever wins this contest, give them your backing. We must end the division, the backbiting, the squabbling. We mustn't nurse old grudges but build new friendships. We must always remember what unites us, rather than obsessing about where we might differ, because when we turn in on ourselves, we lose and the country ends up with a Labour government," he said.
Three former ministers who are currently in the running to take over from Sunak are also going head-to-head this week at the party's conference as they try to convince fellow Tory members of Parliament and the wider party membership they are best placed to take his place after the worst Tory general election defeat in decades.
"In James, Kemi, Robert and Tom, we have a slate of strong leadership candidates. Now, I sat around the Cabinet tables with all of them, and I can tell you, they are all good Conservatives who would lead this country well and be better Prime Ministers than Keir Starmer," Sunak added, without endorsing any one of the four contenders.
He further reiterated, "If we Conservatives are going to get back into office so that we can once more deliver for the British people, then our new leader is going to need your support. So, let's use this conference to look to the future and ensure that one of our four candidates is not just the next leader of our party but our next prime minister too," he said.
Making use of the positive media frenzy surrounding the scandal involving prime minister, and his friends in the Labour party accepting costly items from party financiers, Sunak fired several attacks on the government.
Now you do not need someone else to buy you a pair of designer glasses to see that the shine is coming off Keir Starmer already; people can see that Labour weren't frank with them at the election … that Labour are making the wrong choices for our country, " he said, amid laughter.
Setting aside some of his achievements as Britain's first Indian-origin chancellor then went on to become prime minister, Sunak said he had steered the UK through some of the biggest challenges in its history.
"When Covid hit we could support people and businesses with furlough, provide record funding to the NHS and deliver the fastest vaccine rollout in the world anywhere," said Sunak, who won back his seat as MP for Richmond and Northallerton in Yorkshire in July.
"We have given an entire generation opportunities that they would not otherwise have had, and our country will reap the benefit of those reforms for generations to come, and that is a legacy we Conservatives should be proud of," he added.
The field for the Tory leadership contest will be narrowed to the final two, who will take the fight online to the wider Conservative Party membership at the end of the Tory conference on Wednesday.
The new leader of the Conservative Party will be declared on 2 November and go on to take their place in the House of Commons as the Leader of the Opposition.
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