Former housing secretary Robert Jenrick who brought in the controversial 'evictions ban' during Covid has joined the Conservative party leadership race.

Jenrick, 42, who has promised to win back Reform voters and unite the Tories, lives in Southwell, owns a multimillion-pound townhouse in London, and Eye Manor, a Grade I-listed home in Herefordshire - although he is not thought to rent any of these out.

The MP for Newark headed up the DLUHC from July 2019 to September 2021, during which time he announced – and extended – a ban on bailiff evictions to support renters during the Covid pandemic and launched the Commonhold Council advisory panel to inform the government on the future of this type of homeownership.

His website says he also “made significant strides in reducing homelessness”.

Similar to Keir Starmer pushing his father’s manual job credentials, Jenrick told the BBC that his dad was a gas fitter. “My politics comes from my upbringing, not from what my parents said or how they voted,” he explained to Nick Robinson.

“That was one of the reasons why I joined the Conservative party in the late ‘90s, because I saw the practical effects of Conservatism that had transformed the prospects of my family and had taken two working class people from the north of England and enabled them to provide for their family in a way they could never have imagined back in the day.”

Failed

In his recent Commons speech, Jenrick admitted that the Tories had failed to deliver on public services, lower taxes, the level of economic growth and the migration system.

He has been outspoken recently about Labour’s plans to deal with illegal migration and resigned from his post as immigration minister last December, arguing that the Rwanda plan to deter illegal immigration did not go far enough.

James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat have also announced they are running in the leadership contest.