Sam Gyimah: Former universities minister becomes 13th candidate to enter Tory leadership race

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Former universities minister Sam Gyimah has announced he is entering the Tory party leadership race.

The Conservative MP for East Surrey is the 13th candidate to join the list of hopefuls vying to replace Theresa May after she announced her resignation last month.

Mr Gyimah told Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday: "I will be joining the contest to be the next Conservative leader and prime minister to broaden the race.

"There is a wide range of candidates out there but there is a very narrow set of views on Brexit being discussed.

"And over the last few weeks I have watched on discussing with colleagues in frustration that while there's a broad sweep of opinion in the country on how we move forward at this critical time that is not being reflected in the contest at the moment."

In November, Mr Gyimah became the seventh government minister to resign over Theresa May’s Brexit deal, which he called “naïve” and “a deal only in name”.

At the time. he said: “Britain will end up worse off, transformed from rule makers into rule takers. It is a democratic deficit and a loss of sovereignty.”

He has since become a vocal advocate for a second referendum.

He told Ms Ridge: "What most of the candidates are offering is to offer no-deal and a fudge on Theresa May's deal which has been heavily defeated.

Future facing: MP Sam Gyimah at Westminster
Daniel Hambury/@stellapicsltd

"Parliament is deadlocked, we all know that, we want to move forward, and we want to be able to bring the country together and so that is why I think a final say on the Brexit deal is the way to achieve that and for the Conservative Party I think what we need to be doing is putting the country first."

He insisted he was not positioning himself for a cabinet post and said he would find it "very difficult" to serve as a minister under a leader pursuing a no-deal Brexit.

The outgoing leader said in May that she would leave Downing Street on June 7, triggering a contest for a new Tory leader.

Before Mr Gyimah, former chief whip Mark Harper and junior Brexit minister James Cleverly were the latest to join the race.

Frontrunners include Conservative heavyweights like Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt.

Brexit Party MEP Ann Widdecombe said the Tories, her former party, had "gone mad" with 13 candidates running to be leader.

She insisted Nigel Farage's new group would not disappear because she said there was a lack of trust in politicians to deliver Brexit.

And she told Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday: "We have tapped into a vein of anger and frustration but it's for a very clear aim: it's to get us out of the EU and deliver what the people asked for."

Ms Widdecombe said it was right that the Brexit Party had not yet published a manifesto, and said the party was unlikely to have a policy on "gay sex changes" after being asked about previous comments she has made on the subject.

"I do not imagine for one moment that the Brexit Party will be putting forward a policy on gay sex changes in its manifesto."

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