Tom Newton Dunn: Battle to be next Tory leader has begun and with 16 vying for top spot, things will get ugly

Suella Braverman called on Conservatives to join forces with Nigel Farage. Photo: PA

Tom Newton Dunn
© Evening Standard

‘The problem with my dear fellow Tory MPs is they all think they’re Winston Churchill,” a weary cabinet minister told me this week. “Every single one of them.” Like many in the Conservative Party now, the minister has given up hope over the general election result.

It’s the next election campaign he’s fixated on – the Tory leadership contest that will start three weeks from today.