model-willem walks up the stage in Telford Town Park surrounded by local people and local Conservatives

People of Telford, I stand here before all of you because this party needs change. We are at a crossroad and need to choose the right path to follow for the future. Mili has lead the party and the country through great moments, a merger of two parties, two good Governments with different parties. The Conservatives have shown that we can govern in the interest of the country with parties on both sides of ourselves.

That is one of our strengths, but it’s also something to be cautious of. We have gone from supporting a more rightwing LPUK budget to support a government with the Liberal Democrats. In doing that we have lost ourselves, our vision and some members of our party.

It’s understandable that the country is confused by these sudden changes in our policy. This is something that we need to address and we need to find ourselves again. We are a proud governing party that has shown that we stand for fiscal and economic responsibility in the past and it’s something that we need to go back to that. No more out of the blue high expenditure without checking the expences first.

We have shown that we can be compassionate, we secured increased funding for our public services, we have shown that we can level up the North of England and we have shown that we care about the lower-class that want to go to work but can’t afford childcare. But we also have to ensure that individual responsibility is the main thread running through our policies.

In this tough time within the country and within the party we need someone that has the experience of being a leader, someone that has known what it is to have a high-placed job in Government, someone that has worked closely together with the Liberal Democrats and the LPUK.

Over the coming days, I want to go in deeper about how to change the party from within and show you what my plans are to change the party for the better. But let’s be clear, change is necessary and I am the person to lead that change.