Prior to the start of the party conference, candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party are presenting their cases to the membership.Sunday marks the start of the first conference since their July election loss in Birmingham. James Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, and Tom Tugendhat will be competing for the support of the group. The candidates have discussed a range of topics in interviews and opinion pieces, including immigration, taxes, and the party's future.

Before a few days of activities begin, the Tories' interim chair, Richard Fuller, will express his "deepest apologies" to the membership for the election defeat on Sunday afternoon. The conference, which runs till Wednesday, will provide the leadership contenders a chance to speak, and their campaigns will be contacting members of parliament before lawmakers select the top two on October 10. On November 2, members will select one of those two options, with the outcome being announced.Immigration has so far featured heavily in the campaign, and in a piece in the Sunday Telegraph Ms Badenoch said that “if necessary” the UK should leave “international frameworks like the ECHR”.She pledged to “end illegal migration by proper enforcement and inserting whatever deterrent is necessary into the system”.

Ms Badenoch said that such a move would be “part of a full plan, not just a throwaway promise to win a leadership contest”.

In the same piece Ms Badenoch called for an “integration strategy” and said that “we cannot be naïve and assume immigrants will automatically abandon ancestral ethnic hostilities at the border, or that all cultures are equally valid.”

She added: “I am struck for example, by the number of recent immigrants to the UK who hate Israel. That sentiment has no place here.”

Meanwhile, in The Sun on Sunday, Mr Jenrick said that the country needs “a tax system that rewards risk-takers” and should “take advantage of our Brexit freedoms and change VAT thresholds” for small businesses”.He believes that “we should increase the thresholds to £100,000, as recommended by the Federation of Small Businesses, which would allow tens of thousands of businesses to have an additional untaxed turnover of £10,000.”

The Conservative Party has been criticized for its recent election results, with 121 seats secured, down from 121 in 2019. Leader John Tugendhat believes the party needs to change course and rebuild as a future government. Interim chair John Fuller will address delegates in Birmingham, pledging to learn and change the party. Fuller will apologize to members of the Conservative Party, activists, and the country for the reckless, ideological socialist government. He will also address the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK, who took seats from the Tories.