With Rishi Sunak announcing his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party following the largest defeat for the party in its history, six Conservative MPs will be competing for the Party’s leadership, which will be announced on 2 November this year.
At the close of nominations on 29 July, the six candidates standing to be the leader of the Conservative Party are Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel, Mel Stride and Tom Tugendhat. To be nominated, each candidate needed the backing of at least 10 other Conservative MPs.
By September, the parliamentary party will reduce the candidates to four, who will make their case to Conservative Party members at the Conservative Party Conference. In October, the parliamentary party will then whittle it down to the final two candidates who will then be subject to a vote by Conservative Party members.
Right To Life UK has put together a complete voting record cataloguing the leadership candidates’ views on abortion and assisted suicide, and has also produced a deep-dive review of each candidate based on research into past statements made by the candidates on beginning and end-of-life issues.
Suella Braverman was expected to stand as a candidate for the leadership but withdrew from the contest the day before nominations closed. We have included her voting record on the table here for readers who are interested in seeing her past votes on abortion, assisted suicide and human embryo research.
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Click here to view the full voting record on abortion and assisted suicide for Kemi Badenoch.
Kemi Badenoch
Member of Parliament for North West Essex
Odds: Ladbrokes 7-4, William Hill 6-4
The 44-year-old Shadow Housing Secretary’s backers include Julia Lopez, Alex Burghart, Andrew Griffith, Andrew Bowie and Jesse Norman.
From 2017, when she was first elected, until 2021, Badenoch consistently abstained from voting on abortion issues including efforts to impose abortion on Northern Ireland and an attempt to make it a criminal offence to offer help outside abortion clinics.
However, in 2021, she voted in favour of a motion to approve regulations to give the Northern Ireland Secretary new powers to impose the commissioning of abortion services on Northern Ireland. In 2022, she voted to increase those powers. And in 2023, she voted in favour of a motion to approve regulations to impose teaching about abortion on schools in Northern Ireland.
At the same time, in 2022, she voted against a pro-abortion amendment to make at-home abortions a permanent feature of the law in England and Wales and voted against a pro-abortion amendment to introduce censorship zones around abortion clinics that make it a criminal offence to offer support or pray.
During an oral evidence session for the Women and Equalities Committee in December 2023, Badenoch said “I did not vote for an [amendment to make at-home abortions a permanent feature of the law] as I thought it went too far”.
During the same session, Badenoch was asked how important it was “that women can access safe abortion care?” She answered “It is very important”.
In an interview with a podcast for the Spectator, ‘Women with Balls’, Badenoch stated:
“We had the regulations come in because of coronavirus regulations and we recognised that many women would not be able to have abortions the way they normally would do because of restrictions, and we had an end to all of those regulations, but there was a Lords amendment – I think it was a Lords amendment – to bring them back in. It’s a very interesting thing, because abortion is probably the area that I am most left-wing on, in terms of what I think women should be allowed to do”.
“I’m very, very pro-choice, but you can still be pro-choice and yet think well, maybe not like that, I don’t think that way is appropriate, why don’t we do something in a different way, yet you will end up being portrayed on social media as somebody who’s anti-abortion rather than anti- a particular change in a process”.
Ahead of the 2024 General Election, Badenoch refused to sign a Right To Life UK pledge to: stop discrimination against baby girls by supporting a law change to clarify that sex-selective abortion is illegal; bring our law closer to the laws in the majority of EU countries by lowering the gestational time limit for abortion; and support women in the workplace by backing policies designed to stop pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
Badenoch also did not sign a separate 2024 Right To Life UK pledge to oppose the introduction of assisted suicide and support better palliative care at the end of life.
Click here to view the full voting record on abortion and assisted suicide for James Cleverly.
James Cleverly
Member of Parliament for Braintree
Odds: Ladbrokes, 6-1, William Hill 9-2.
The 54-year-old Shadow Home Secretary’s backers include four Conservative colleagues Peter Fortune, Gagan Mohindra, Simon Hoare and Charlie Dewhirst.
In 11 out of 12 votes in Parliament on abortion, Cleverly abstained from voting. This includes abstaining from votes on decriminalising abortion in 2017, imposing abortion on Northern Ireland in 2018, introducing buffer zones in 2020, an amendment to make ‘DIY’ home abortions permanently available in England in 2022, and, most recently, a vote to impose teaching about abortion on schools in Northern Ireland.
However, in 2021 he voted in favour of a motion to approve regulations to give the Northern Ireland Secretary new powers to impose the commissioning of abortion services on Northern Ireland.
Importantly, Cleverly voted against making assisted suicide legal in the last major vote in the House of Commons on the matter in 2015. In a post on X at the time, he said “I entered the chamber troubled by the idea of the assisted dying bill, my mind is now fully made up and I will be voting against”.
In his public statements on the matter, Cleverly has been more vocal about wanting fewer protections for unborn babies.
In October 2018, James Cleverly expressed his support for Diana Johnson MP’s radical ten-minute rule bill on abortion in a post on X. Cleverly praised the bill as “sensitively put and well argued” and emphasised that he is “completely committed to the provision of safe and legal abortion services”.
Diana Johnson MP introduced this Bill, which aimed to make extreme changes to abortion legislation in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The Bill failed to become law, but if it had, it would have imposed abortion on Northern Ireland and removed many of the current legal safeguards around abortion provision in England and Wales.
In 2023, as Foreign Secretary, Cleverly launched an initiative “to tackle gender inequality around the world” with the use of over £200 million of taxpayers’ money for programmes that provide abortions and fund ‘pro-choice’ campaigns in Africa.
The Women and Girls Strategy was launched on International Women’s Day and up to £200 million of taxpayer money will be spent on the Women’s Integrated Sexual Health programme. The programme is implemented by international abortion providers MSI Reproductive Choices (previously Marie Stopes International) and International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).
A Government paper called ‘International Women and Girls Strategy 2023–2030‘ accompanying the launch of the initiative explains that one of its goals is to “prioritise the often-neglected issue of safe abortion”.
Ahead of the 2024 General Election, as Home Secretary, Cleverly told journalists “I am pro-choice. Safe and legal access to abortion is incredibly important”.
Discussing the implementation of abortion buffer zones earlier this year, Cleverly said “It is clearly unacceptable for anyone to be harassed or distressed simply for exercising their legal right to access abortion services”.
“I am committed to ensuring that women in England and Wales feel safe and protected whilst exercising their legal right to access abortion services”.
Ahead of the 2024 General Election, Cleverly refused to sign a Right To Life UK pledge to: stop discrimination against baby girls by supporting a law change to clarify that sex-selective abortion is illegal; bring our law closer to the laws in the majority of EU countries by lowering the gestational time limit for abortion; and support women in the workplace by backing policies designed to stop pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
Cleverly also did not sign a separate 2024 Right To Life UK pledge to oppose the introduction of assisted suicide and support better palliative care at the end of life.
Click here to view the full voting record on abortion and assisted suicide for Robert Jenrick.
Robert Jenrick
Member of Parliament for Newark
Odds: Ladbrokes 5-2, William Hill 11-4.
The 42-year-old’s backers include staunch pro-life MPs Danny Kruger, Sir Edward Leigh and Sir John Hayes MP.
On beginning and end-of-life issues, Jenrick has a poor track record, only voting pro-life once in 2018 when he voted against an amendment to put pressure on the Government to change abortion legislation in Northern Ireland.
In 2015, he voted in favour of making assisted suicide legal.
In 2015, he voted in favour of allowing the creation of three-parent embryos and against an explicit ban on sex-selective abortion.
In 2017, he voted to introduce abortion on demand, for any reason, up to birth in England and Wales.
In 2020, he voted for a motion to approve regulations to impose abortion legislation on Northern Ireland – including introducing abortion up to birth for Down’s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot.
In 2021, he supported a motion to approve regulations to give the Northern Ireland Secretary new powers to impose the commissioning of abortion services on Northern Ireland.
In 2022, he voted to make ‘DIY’ home abortions permanently available in England. In the same year, he voted to introduce censorship zones around abortion clinics that make it a criminal offence to offer support or pray.
Most recently, in 2023, he voted to approve regulations to impose teaching about abortion on schools in Northern Ireland.
Ahead of the 2024 General Election, Jenrick did not sign a Right To Life UK pledge to: stop discrimination against baby girls by supporting a law change to clarify that sex-selective abortion is illegal; bring our law closer to the laws in the majority of EU countries by lowering the gestational time limit for abortion; and support women in the workplace by backing policies designed to stop pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
Jenrick also did not sign a separate 2024 Right To Life UK pledge to oppose the introduction of assisted suicide and support better palliative care at the end of life.
Jenrick does not appear to have made any public statements or comments on abortion or assisted suicide.
Click here to view the full voting record on abortion and assisted suicide for Priti Patel.
Priti Patel
Member of Parliament for Witham
Odds: Ladbrokes 8-1, and William Hill, 8-1
The 52-year-old former Home Secretary’s backers include Alec Shelbrooke, Greg Smith, Saqib Bhatti and Andrew Snowden.
Priti Patel has abstained from voting on 14 out of 16 votes on beginning and end-of-life issues.
In 2015, in her only pro-life vote since she entered the House of Commons in 2011, she voted for an explicit ban on sex-selective abortion.
However, in 2021, like all other leadership candidates, she did vote in favour of a motion to approve regulations to give the Northern Ireland Secretary new powers to impose the commissioning of abortion services on Northern Ireland.
When she was Secretary of State for International Development, the UK Government committed to investing £225m each year for 5 years to family planning, which would include the provision of “safe abortion”. In a letter to Right To Life UK, she said the UK includes “safe abortion as one part of its wider work on sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Patel abstained in 2015 on the vote on Rob Marris’ rejected assisted suicide Bill.
Ahead of the 2024 General Election, Patel did not sign a Right To Life UK pledge to: stop discrimination against baby girls by supporting a law change to clarify that sex-selective abortion is illegal; bring our law closer to the laws in the majority of EU countries by lowering the gestational time limit for abortion; and support women in the workplace by backing policies designed to stop pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
Patel also did not sign a separate 2024 Right To Life UK pledge to oppose the introduction of assisted suicide and support better palliative care at the end of life.
Patel does not appear to have made any public statements or comments on abortion or assisted suicide.
Click here to view the full voting record on abortion and assisted suicide for Mel Stride.
Mel Stride
Member of Parliament for Central Devon
Odds: Ladbrokes 28-1, William Hill 20-1
The 62-year-old Central Devon MP’s backers include Mark Garnier, George Freeman, Desmond Swayne, Andrew Murrison, Jerome Mayhew and David Reid.
In 16 votes on beginning and end-of-life issues, Stride has only voted pro-life on one occasion when, in 2022, he voted against an amendment to introduce censorship zones around abortion clinics that make it a criminal offence to offer support or pray.
In 2011, Stride voted against independent abortion counselling.
In 2015, Stride also voted in favour of Rob Marris’ defeated assisted suicide Bill.
In 2015, he voted in favour of allowing the creation of three-parent embryos and against an explicit ban on sex-selective abortion.
Between 2017 and 2020, Stride abstained from all votes on abortion, including attempts to impose abortion on Northern Ireland and attempts to introduce buffer zones.
In 2021, he supported a motion to approve regulations to give the Northern Ireland Secretary new powers to impose the commissioning of abortion services on Northern Ireland.
In 2022, he abstained from voting on an amendment to make ‘DIY’ home abortions permanently available in England and Wales but did support a motion to approve regulations to give the Northern Ireland Secretary further powers to impose the commissioning of abortion services on Northern Ireland.
Most recently, in 2023, he voted in favour of a motion to approve regulations to impose teaching about abortion on schools in Northern Ireland.
Stride’s public statements on abortion and assisted suicide are consistent with his voting record.
Stride acknowledged the “sensitivity” of imposing abortion on Northern Ireland.
In 2023, he said he “would not be averse” to a new Commons debate on assisted suicide. “If Parliament, in some form or another, decided that it wanted to have a fresh look at this, given it was some years ago that we last did so, that’s not something I would be resistant to”.
He said someone should have the “maximum opportunity to have control of the end of their life”.
Ahead of the 2024 General Election, Stride did not sign a Right To Life UK pledge to: stop discrimination against baby girls by supporting a law change to clarify that sex-selective abortion is illegal; bring our law closer to the laws in the majority of EU countries by lowering the gestational time limit for abortion; and support women in the workplace by backing policies designed to stop pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
Stride also did not sign a separate 2024 Right To Life UK pledge to oppose the introduction of assisted suicide and support better palliative care at the end of life.
Click here to view the full voting record on abortion and assisted suicide for Tom Tugendhat.
Tom Tugendhat
Member of Parliament for Tonbridge
Odds: Ladbrokes 5-1. William Hill 4-1.
The 51-year-old Shadow Minister for Security’s backers include Karen Bradley, Patrick Spencer, Nick Timothy and Neil Shastri-Hurst..
Out of thirteen votes on abortion and assisted suicide, Tugendhat has only voted pro-life on one occasion when, in 2015, he voted against making assisted suicide legal.
In 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023, Tugendhat voted to impose abortion on Northern Ireland and to give the Northern Ireland Secretary further powers to impose the commissioning of abortion services on Northern Ireland.
In all other cases, Tugendhat has abstained on votes on abortion including in 2017, when he abstained from a vote on introducing abortion on demand, for any reason, up to birth in England and Wales, and in 2022, when he abstained on an amendment to make ‘DIY’ home abortions permanently available in England and Wales.
Tugendhat does not appear to have made any public statements or comments on abortion or assisted suicide.
Ahead of the 2024 General Election, Tugendhat did not sign a Right To Life UK pledge to: stop discrimination against baby girls by supporting a law change to clarify that sex-selective abortion is illegal; bring our law closer to the laws in the majority of EU countries by lowering the gestational time limit for abortion; and support women in the workplace by backing policies designed to stop pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
Tugendhat also did not sign a separate 2024 Right To Life UK pledge to oppose the introduction of assisted suicide and support better palliative care at the end of life.
Why a strong opposition to abortion and assisted suicide matters
The United Kingdom is about to enter a very important period for the abortion issue. There is currently a renewed push from the abortion lobby to make extreme changes to abortion legislation in England and Wales. This push is made more likely given the track record of a number of Labour MPs who have been pushing extreme abortion legislation for a number of years.
While the Labour Party made no explicit mention of abortion in its 2024 manifesto, in a document released by their National Policy Forum last year, the party stated that it “believes that abortion is an essential part of health care which is highly regulated and should not be subjected to custodial sanctions. Labour will provide parliamentary time for free votes on modernising abortion law to ensure women do not go to jail for getting an abortion at a vulnerable time”.
If abortion were fully ‘decriminalised’, this would make abortion legal, on demand for any reason up to birth.
More recently, seven Labour MPs had the whip suspended for six months after voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap, which has been found to be a factor in some women’s decisions to have an abortion.
Labour MPs Diana Johnson and Stella Creasy have a track record of leading attempts to pass extreme abortion legislation, most recently through amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill earlier this year.
If they had passed, these amendments would have likely led to a significant increase in the number of women performing late-term abortions at home, endangering the lives of many more women.
They would have also likely led to an increased number of viable babies’ lives being ended well beyond the 24-week abortion time limit and beyond the point at which they would be able to survive outside the womb.
The 2019 Labour Party manifesto was explicit about its intention to ‘decriminalise abortions’.
Additionally, though not in their manifesto, Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has not only voted in favour of making assisted suicide legal in the past, but also publicly stated his continued support for it and even pledged that he would make time for a vote on the matter if he became Prime Minister.
Full voting record of the six Conservative leadership candidates on abortion and assisted suicide
Key
- 2023-06-28 Motion to approve regulations to impose teaching about abortion on schools in Northern Ireland
- 2023-03-07 Amendment to censorship zone clause to ensure that silent prayer and consensual communication are not made illegal outside abortion clinics.
- 2022-10-18 Amendment to introduce censorship zones around abortion clinics that make it a criminal offence to offer support or pray.
- 2022-06-22 Motion to approve regulations to give the Northern Ireland secretary further powers to impose the commissioning of abortion services on Northern Ireland.
- 2022-03-30 Amendment to make ‘DIY’ home abortions permanently available in England.
- 2021-04-27 Motion to approve regulations to give the Northern Ireland secretary new powers to impose the commissioning of abortion services on Northern Ireland.
- 2020-06-24 Introduce censorship zones around abortion clinics that make it a criminal offence to offer support or pray.
- 2020-06-17 Motion to approve regulations to impose abortion legislation on Northern Ireland – including introducing abortion up to birth for Down’s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot.
- 2019-07-09 Amendment to impose law change on Northern Ireland to introduce abortion.
- 2018-10-24 Amendment to put pressure on the Government to change abortion legislation in Northern Ireland.
- 2018-10-23 Introduce abortion on demand, for any reason, up-to 24-weeks in Northern Ireland. Remove many of the current legal safeguards around abortion provision in England and Wales.
- 2017-03-13 Introduce abortion on demand, for any reason, up-to-birth to England and Wales (‘Decriminalisation’).
- 2015-09-11 Legalise assisted suicide.
- 2015-02-23 Explicit ban on sex-selective abortion.
- 2015-02-03 Allow the creation of 3 parent embryos (mitochondrial donation).
- 2011-09-07 Independent abortion counselling
Full voting record data for each candidate from the Where Do They Stand platform
