Robert Jenrick thinks the Tories can win at the next election – but he added the party has a “mountain to climb” and must show “where we went wrong”.
The former immigration minister will formally launch his campaign for the Conservative leadership on Friday.
He will say the Tories need to undergo “serious changes” to restore voters’ trust following the party’s worst-ever general election result.
The Newark MP is expected to tell a campaign rally in the East Midlands: “We have a mountain to climb.
“Trust is hard-fought but easily lost. It can’t be restored overnight.
“But if the party learns the hard lessons, listens to the country and shows the party has changed – if we show the country that we have listened, if we show the country we know where we went wrong and have learned our lessons – if we show that we understand the scale of the challenges this country faces and are capable of delivering for Britain again, if we show that we have come together, a broad church, but united by a common creed…
“Above all, if we show that we have changed, I know we can win again.
“Not in two terms. Not in a decade. But at the next general election.”
Mr Jenrick is the sixth Conservative MP to declare their intention to run in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader.
He will compete against shadow communities secretary Kemi Badenoch, shadow work and pensions secretary Mel Stride, shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat, shadow home secretary James Cleverly and former home secretary Dame Priti Patel.
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On Monday former home secretary Suella Braverman, once seen as the choice of the right for future Tory leader, ruled herself out of the race after claiming she had been branded “mad, bad and dangerous” by colleagues.
Mr Jenrick, who has represented Newark since 2014, has held a number of ministerial roles in the Commons, including as housing secretary, as health minister and as exchequer to the Treasury.
He was an ally of Mr Sunak, but resigned as immigration minister last year over the former prime minister’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda, describing the bill as a “triumph of hope over experience”.
In a campaign video this week, Mr Jenrick said Mr Sunak’s party had been “unable or unwilling” to do what was required to reduce migration to the UK.
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Badenoch and Braverman had traded jibes before the contest even began. Pics: PA
Mr Jenrick will run on a platform of cutting immigration and pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights, which Mr Sunak had been reluctant to commit to.
Nominees for Tory leader must have 10 backers to submit their papers to enter the race.
The field will be whittled down to four in time for the Tory conference in Birmingham before MPs vote for a final two candidates, who will face a ballot of Conservative members.
The new leader will then be announced on 2 November.