Chopper's Politics: Laurence Fox's views are 'core Tory values', says party's co-chairman

Laurence Fox's views are the "core values for the Conservative Party", the Tory party co-chairman has said in response to the actor's launch of Reclaim, a new party based upon upholding freedom of speech.

Amanda Milling brushed off concerns that Fox's new party – announced last weekend – could take voters away from the Conservatives at the next general election if it stands dozens of candidates in constituencies as planned, funded with millions of pounds from donors.

Ms Milling painted the Tories as the party of freedom of speech and attacked those who sought to "airbrush history" by attacking statues of Robert Peel and Winston Churchill.

She told the Telegraph's Chopper's Politics podcast, which you can listen to on the audio player above: "I was appalled, frankly, when I saw the Churchill statue outside of Parliament Square having to be boarded up, and the one of Robert Peel in Tamworth. This was appalling.

"We cannot airbrush our history. And these are really kind of key points for the Conservative Party in terms of freedom of speech. We have a history. We have a proud United Kingdom and we know we need to stand up for that."

She added: "Laurence Fox is bringing forward his views and opinions on this, and it will add to the debate. But these are core values for the Conservative Party."

Speaking ahead of this weekend's virtual Conservative party conference, Ms Milling disclosed that a record number of members – 20,000 – are planning to watch proceedings over the internet.

Ms Milling also said the party was now reviewing the "competencies" of candidates for the next general election, amid concern about some of the candidates elected at the 2019 general election.

Ms Milling said she wanted to see "more diversity on all fronts. This not just about gender and ethnicity It's also what kind of life experience, background, business.

"And you need to look at the parliamentary party now to see how over the last few intakes, what a kind of diverse group we've got.

"One of things we've been doing over the last few months, in fact since the general election, is looking at the candidates process and the competencies at all levels."

Candidates would be chosen to ensure they did not represent a "London centric" party but "a party for the whole UK" with "a much more bespoke training and development programme", the Conservative Party has said.

Conservative sources said the candidates for the next general election would have to demonstrate "authenticity, integrity, judgement, political conviction, resilience and drive".

Ms Milling, who was brought up in Staffordshire, said the party would be announcing its plans for a headquarters in the north of England "very soon".

The new base would be "meaningful" and she would spend time herself there, she said.

Listen to The Telegraph's weekly political podcast, Chopper's Politics, presented by Chief Political Correspondent, Christopher Hope, on the audio player at the top of this article, and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app.