The third in our series of interviews of Tory leadership candidates is /u/model-willem. Formerly Chief Whip of the Liberal Democrats, he led the Classical Liberals into their merger with the Conservative Party in January this year, becoming Deputy Leader of the Tories in the process. As Foreign Secretary, he is the most senior Minister running in this race, but it has not been plain sailing for model-willem. The recent vote of no confidence in the Government claimed that he had failed to engage Iran in negotiations over a new nuclear deal. Regardless, he is seen as one of the frontrunners in this race. The Times sat down with him last night.

UH: model-willem, thank you for joining me. What are your core ideological principles?

MW: I would describe myself as someone who is on the right of the centre if we talk about the political spectrum and in my opinion that's our place to be. I am someone that feels strongly for the individual responsibility that someone needs to have. For example, some people find themselves in a position where they need help from the state to make ends meet and I support that, but our aim should be to get someone back into work as soon as they are able to, so they can provide for themselves. By helping people get back into a job we help them to get self-sustainable again so they don't need to rely on the state anymore.

I'm also a big believer of fiscal and economic responsibility. We as Conservatives, but also as the UK, have made some policy decisions that looked great in principal [sic] but when we look at the financial outcomes they are less great and can cause unnecessary spending for us. I want to tackle that, we should look at the policies we are putting out and check that the required spending will not be too over the top and that we actually achieve what the goal of the policies are with the money that we're spending.

These two also apply to our position in the world and that we focus on the countries that need our support to make them self-sufficient, that we stand up for minorities and the people that are suppressed in this world. But also, this cannot be done through reckless spending patterns.

UH: What’s the most pressing issue facing the party at the moment? How are you going to change that?

MW: I see two pressing issues for the party right now.

The first one is our presence in the House of Commons. Everyone agrees that we haven't been on top of our game on that issue right now and it's something that we should work on. I believe in the principle that the Leadership should lead by example, which is something that I've done over the last couple of weeks, by debating legislation and putting our opinions on the matters out there we can set an example for the newer members or people that are uncertain.

Our second issue in my opinion is a lack of a clear vision that people can get behind, there are not many lines that we actually hold on to at this moment and we should change that. That's why I want to put forward those three main topics and put committees in place filled with backbenchers and other people that have shown their interest in those topics. My idea is to combine departments and policy areas together, like education/health/transport/hclg into a public services committee. These committees can debate legislation and policies for our party among each other.

UH: What - if any - reforms would you make to the internal party machinery?

MW: Well as I outlined above, my idea for the committees, a good way to get people involved, especially backbenchers and people with the knowledge about the policy areas. It ensures that everyone can have a chance to have their impact on the party policies.

Another thing that worries me right now is the lack of actual positions within the party. Because /u/MatthewHinton12345 is the new Deputy Leader, we have four people with a position within the party. A Leader, two Deputies (one the Chief Whip) and a Chairman. We are a large party with lots of new people that have great talents. We just use them too little. We should get at least one Deputy Whip back to ensure that when a Chief Whip leaves or gets another job we have someone familiar with the process to get in and take over. We also lack a press presence, my idea is to get a Press Officer, but in a different position than last times. I want someone who can arrange interviews, assist people with putting out press if necessary, making graphics, working together with the devolved parties to assist them in their press output, since that has been lacking as well.

I also want to ensure a warm blanket for the new people in the party, which has been lacking at this moment. We have to reach out to them, let them know how the party and Parliament work, get to know them and see what their dreams are within the party to search for a role that fits them. I also want to pair them up with people who write legislation to ease them into that part of the workings of Parliament.

UH: Who are our natural bedfellows in coalition?

MW: I don't think it's really weird for me to say that as a former Liberal Democrat that it's easy for me to work with them, because I know some of them from my time in that party. But over the last couple of months I have experienced working closely with the LPUK in Wales and in Westminster as well in the last Government. Over the last couple of months we have shown that we are able to work together with both parties in a good way and for me that's a good thing. We shouldn't tie ourselves together with just one party because that limits our options in lots of ways. As I said earlier on, I view myself as being on the right of the centre and in my opinion that suits us to be able to work together with both parties. Yes there have been some tensions with the LPUK as of lately, but I've had a good relationship with /u/Friedmanite19 and I'm sure that we can reconnect with them if we try, but our vision on that relationship should be clear to be able to know what we can expect from the other.

UH: Who are your greatest political inspirations?

MW: I draw inspiration from lots of people in politics. I have lots of respect for people like Margaret Thatcher and the way that she was treated in the beginning, one of the few women in politics but fighting hard for her beliefs and the fact that she became the first female Prime Minister of the UK in a period where politics was dominated by men. She has shown that you can achieve everything you want if you work hard enough. If we look closer to our present time then I have huge respects for people like /u/InfernoPlato, the way he has run the Conservative Party, the fact that he doesn't back down from a tough debate and that he has lots of passion for politics and our party. But I also draw inspiration from people like Helmut Kohl or Mark Rutte, to name a few foreigners. But the people that always inspire me day in day out are the politicians that work hard for their constituents in the House of Commons, the people who put effort in trying to make our country the best there is, whatever their beliefs are.

UH: Your plan to expand the number of internal party positions, as laid out in your manifesto, goes against what Yukub told me earlier today, when he said that in the long term he would actually like to see the removal of a Deputy Leader role, and to increase the workload of the Chairman - fewer people doing more work, essentially. Why do you think your plans on this are better than his?

MW: We need to have the ability for new people to be able to get to know how the party operates. Currently we have four people doing all the things in this party. There's almost no room for new people to work their way up in the party. At this moment we have a Chief Whip who is also the Deputy Leader, but there are no Deputy Whips, so there's no clear successor to /u/MatthewHinton12345 who knows the way our whipping system works. There's not enough place for people to be involved in the party at this moment. We have to be careful that we don't make roles that aren't used or that don't have an advantage, but we need to have a way of getting people familiar with the roles within the party.

UH: It’s ironic isn’t it that you’re standing to replace model-mili, given that it was your complete failure on the Iran nuclear deal that seemed to be the final nail in his government’s coffin. Why should we trust you as Prime Minister when you’ve already opened yourself up to accusations of incompetence as Foreign Secretary?

MW: I don't think that the situation with Iran was 'the final nail' at all, model-mili told everyone before that he was planning on resigning as Leader and as Prime Minister after the election of a new Deputy Leadership. This was clear to lots of people way before the situation with Iran happened. On the issue of trust I will be very clear, I have always followed the path that in my opinion was the right way to go forward. These allegations are based on a message send by the Iranian Government, without checking if there was some truth in it. I did have conversations with Iran before the message, the UK Government did reach out to Iran but my predecessor was ignored when they had conversations with Iran. We chose to get a good strategy first, after a General Election and the change of a coalition party. I did have conversations with Iran and they were very fruitful, laid our strategy out to the major Opposition parties and the agreed to it. I have done the right thing and the party stands behind me on this issue so I do believe I have the trust to become the next leader of the Conservatives and the next Prime Minister.

UH: An investigation for The Times by my colleague /u/bloodycontrary concluded that "either we, nor /u/model-willem, can show any productivity thereof, and to say “talks with the Iranian Government have been fruitful” is at best hyperbolic", and that "the Foreign Secretary engaged in politicking and exaggeration". What evidence is there to back up your claim that "fruitful" talks have actually occurred?

MW: I can't leak the precise conversations that happened between me and the Iranian Foreign Minister, but I can tell everyone that we've looked at our proposals and that they were received welcomingly by the Iranian Foreign Minister. We did go over them and we made real progress on the issues. The tweet by the BBC confirms this as well. I'm looking forward to speaking with them again in the coming days.

UH: You recently resigned the leadership of the Welsh Conservatives, telling the party that you "take the full responsibility on me for the mistakes that happened in Wales". Doesn't this show that you aren't even competent enough to lead a devolved branch of the Conservatives, let alone the entire party?

MW: No I don't think so at all. My time as First Minister have learned me a lot, it showed me the responsibilities that come with being the leader of a party and the decisions that you need to take. It showed me that you sometimes need to make hard decisions when it comes to Governments and the continuation of it and that it's sometimes better to just leave a Government than to sit it out for the sakes of it. It showed me that I have a lot of faith in the people that I work with, that I trust the people that I work with and that I can trust them to do their assigned role. It also showed me that sometimes you get betrayed on that trust and at that moment it's better to take responsibilities and learn from those things and take them towards the future. Has my time as First Minister been a flawless one? No, but it showed me what it takes to become a leader and to be the front and center of a Government and that's something that none of my opponents have experienced.

UH: It's true though that you failed to see the LPUK's actions coming, and because of that our position in Wales has become far weaker?

MW: It doesn't, I always expected them to support this referendum in Wales, but I also expected them to abide by the Programme for Government as they said lots of times. They choose a different path to follow, a path that in my opinion is a wrong one. They are ignoring their constituents and their voters and that's on them. Our position in Wales will grow stronger because of this, because we stand by our beliefs 100% and will not throw our beliefs under a bus for opportunism and work with parties that are inherently different than us. So no, I don't think that our position in Wales has become weaker at all.

UH: You’ve been in leadership since January and yet you’ve done nothing to arrest the decline of the party in the polls. Why should we trust you to do anything as leader when you’ve done so little as deputy?

I have done a lot of things to try and stop the decline of the party in the polls. I have co-operated with colleagues and helped them with answers to their MQs, I have co-written statements for Secretaries when they needed help with their statements and with the answers to the questons. I have helped people in debating bills or motions, I have written press pieces to help our party. I was the first person to write an opinion piece on AmberCare and address the attacks on our policy from the LPUK and talked with them about our reasons for the policies, something that others didn't before me, people started to write about them afterwards. I have stepped in for model-mili on their PMQs when they couldn't answer their questions because of personal issues and when he needed a break from it all, I have stepped in as Leader and interim Prime Minister, trying to further our cause within Government and within the party. So, I would say that I've done a lot of things as Deputy Leader to stop the decline of our party.

UH: It would be fair to say that because of the failures I’ve detailed, you’d be bringing a lot of baggage to Number 10. Aren’t you tainted by your history, and wouldn’t the party be better off electing someone with a cleaner slate?

No I don't think so, I have chosen to be on the frontlines before and being on the frontlines sets you open for negative press and negative opinions. But it also shows a lot of willpower in my opinion. The fact that I've chosen to be on the frontline causes me to have lots of experience on how to handle issues that end up on your plate, to be under pressure and to deal with that pressure. It causes me to know how to deal with other parties, to negotiate coalition agreements and other deals. Those experiences, the experience of fighting on the frontline for your ideas is the thing that we need right now. We need someone with the experience to get us more comfortably on top of the pollings and to ensure that we get into Number 10. This party is at a moment where we need change and lead by someone who knows the drills of being leader and the pressure to ensure that we can make the changes and get back where we belong.

UH: Do you have anything else you’d like to say?

I would like to say that I believe that I'm the right person to address the issues that our party faces right now, I know the dealings of Leadership and the way that Government work from a high position. We have to work together with other parties, don't bend over for others to get closer to them, don't choose one party as our 'natural coalition partner', but show that we can be sensible and work with different parties. We need to show strength and unity, not divisiveness and I know that I'm the one to lead us to that point, I know that I can be the person to change the tide and get us back to the place that we once were. We need to listen to our backbenchers, to the members of our party, to take their ideas on board and get things done. I am the person to do that.

UH: model-willem, thank you very much.

MW: Thank you very much as well

/u/UnexpectedHippo is a Conservative MP, as well as being Executive Director (Operations) at The Times. This is the third in a series of interviews, which aims to sit down with all leadership candidates before voting opens on Monday 13th April. You can see the previous interview with /u/MerrilyPutrid here, and the first interview with /u/Yukub here.