Robert Jenrick warns Labour is ‘declaring war on the middle classes’ at slick US-style rally as Tory leader battle heats up – with favourite Kemi Badenoch set to launch campaign tomorrow

Robert Jenrick warned Labour is ‘declaring war on the middle classes’ today as the Tory leadership battle heats up.

At a slick US-style rally on the eve of Parliament’s return from the summer break, Mr Jenrick said he is ready to ‘sock it’ to Keir Starmer.

Addressing supporters in London, some wearing ‘we want Bobby J’ baseball caps, Mr Jenrick insisted he wanted to deport small boat migrants ‘within hours’, cut taxes and shrink the size of the state.

Candidates are gearing up their campaigns for a crucial fortnight, with the field set to be whittled down from six to four in time for party conference. The winner will be announced on November 2 after activists vote on a final two.

Kemi Badenoch – seen by many as the favourite – is formally launching her bid tomorrow after a relatively quiet August, while ex-home secretary James Cleverly is also making a speech. 

With Tom Tugendhat performing strongly among the One Nation group, Priti Patel and Mel Stride are considered the most at risk of falling by the wayside in the next round of ballots by MPs.  

However, the strength of support is hard to gauge as many politicians have not openly stated their allegiance.  

Former Olympic rower James Cracknell was among the crowd at Mr Jenrick’s rally today 

Ex-Brexit minister Lord Frost was in the audience for Mr Jenrick’s pitch to Tories 

Mr Jenrick stepped up his campaigning on the eve of Parliament returning from summer recess

Mr Jenrick said: ‘Labour’s first budget is shaping up to be something big. It’s shaping up to be a declaration of war on the middle classes of this county.

‘It will shortly dawn on our new Prime Minister that the highest-earning pips have already been squeezed. So, the next target is you. The next target will be tax raids on working families across our country.’

He swiped at Tory leadership contest rules that mean Rishi Sunak will respond to the budget on October 30 rather than any of the candidates in the contest to succeed him.

The former minister said he was ‘ready to go on day one’ and that the Tories had to ‘sock it to Keir Starmer and to Rachel Reeves because they stood on a platform of a ‘read my lips, no new taxes’ manifesto’.

Mr Jenrick’s rally at a conference centre in Westminster was addressed by the shadow Scottish secretary John Lamont, a Tory moderate, and Danny Kruger from the party’s right in an attempt to demonstrate that the leadership hopeful could unite both wings of the party.

Former immigration minister Mr Jenrick said ‘the British people’s loss of confidence and trust in our party was profound’, and showed the need for change.

‘Such a comprehensive defeat must lead to a comprehensive rethink, to the building of something new, something that is fit for this moment.

‘A new Conservative Party, a party that regains the British people’s confidence and trust, a party every Conservative, everyone in this hall and every Conservative member across our country can be proud to support once more.’

Outlining his policy plans, Mr Jenrick said: ‘Anyone who comes here illegally should be deported within hours and days, not weeks and months.’

Mr Jenrick, who backs leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), said ‘no court, domestic or foreign should be able to stop us’ because ‘the British people have a right to have a secure border’.

Mr Jenrick also called for an end to high levels of regular migration: ‘Mass migration must end. It won’t be plain sailing, but we must do it to boost the wages of working people and reinvest in our own economy, to prevent the further erosion of social trust and cohesion, to ease pressure on our housing stock.’

He said poor performance in the public sector should result in bad managers being held responsible and sacked.

He added: ‘I believe in a small state that actually works, not a big one that keeps failing.

‘There must be greater accountability for performance across the public sector. The best head teachers, the best police chiefs, the best NHS leaders, they must be empowered.

‘But it goes both ways. Persistent failure must be addressed. Bad managers, they’ve got to go.’

Shadow home secretary James Cleverly, one of Mr Jenrick’s rivals for the leadership, suggested he would cut welfare to spend more on defence and lower taxes.

Speaking to the Sunday Times he said defence spending should rise to 3 per cent of gross domestic product, adding: ‘That is absolutely non-negotiable.’

He said: ‘We keep describing ourselves as a low-tax party. But my view is you can’t just say stuff, you’ve got to do stuff.

‘If you meaningfully intend to bring down taxes, you have to meaningfully bring down Government expenditure. Because if you don’t, inflation will go up or borrowing will go up, or they’ll both go up.’

The welfare budget ‘is obviously an absolutely key one’.

‘It is the economically right thing to do and the morally right thing to do to make sure that we give people the opportunity to do as much as they are able, rather than as little as possible.’

Unlike Mr Jenrick, Mr Cleverly is not in favour of leaving the ECHR: ‘When I was at staff college, one of the first things you’re taught is if your enemy wants you to do something, you should probably not do that thing.

‘(Reform UK leader Nigel) Farage is desperate for the Conservative Party to have a big belly button-gazing row about the ECHR. The UK Supreme Court blocked our Rwanda flights, not the ECHR.’