The biggest threat to the Conservatives in the 2029 election is the party itself, says Conservative politician and Mayor of the Tees Valley, Ben Houchen.

Mr Houchen represented a rare example of Tory electoral success earlier this year when he kept his role in the May local elections.

But two months later, the Conservative party was reduced to its smallest size in the House of Commons since it was founded 190 years ago.

In Birmingham on September 29, Houchen joined MPs Mel Stride and Danny Kruger on a panel which analysed the defeat at the Conservative Party Conference.

The question posed to the panel was whether the biggest challenge to the Tories was from Labour, the Liberal Democrats or Reform.

In response, Mr Houchen said: “The Conservative Party is the biggest problem at the next election.

“It is true. It’s why we’re Conservatives – you’d believe that if we put forward proper Conservative values in the right way to communicate with people we can win the next election.

“We can win elections for decades to come, irrespective of what other parties put forward.

“The only reason some of the parties – in particular, the Lib Dems and Reform – have done quite well is because of our failures, not their successes. So we are the biggest problem to our own success.”

At the conference, Rishi Sunak, the previous Prime Minister who saw the worst general election result in Conservative history, remained mostly quiet.

The conference focused on the four members of the party who could replace Mr Sunak as leader of the opposition: Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat. On Wednesday, the four will each make speeches and take part in a Q&A session.

Over the weekend Badenoch sparked fury when she appeared to question the extent of maternity pay by describing it as "excessive" in an interview with Times Radio.

She later wrote on X: “Contrary to what some have said, I clearly said the burden of regulation on businesses had gone too far … of course I believe in maternity pay!”

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