Will getting back to 'normal' win back votes for Tories?

In his final pitch to members at the Conservative Party conference this week, the leadership contender James Cleverly MP told them that the Tories would regain power if they were more "enthusiastic, relatable, positive, optimistic - let's be more normal!".

It was a convincing performance, receiving the longest standing ovation, compared to the other three leadership hopefuls who also spoke that day.

Mr Cleverly's speech also reminded many of one once given by the former UK Prime Minister, David Cameron.

Back in 2005, like Mr Cleverly, Mr Cameron was seen as the underdog in the race to become Tory leader as he competed with Conservative heavyweight David Davis.

Mr Cameron's speech was a pitch to the centre.

Mr Cleverly's too, was also focused on moving closer to the centre ground.

He is not the only Tory figure to make that argument.

Indeed, before the Conservative conference got underway, former Prime Minister Theresa May also made a plea to members to tilt back to the centre.

She reminded readers of The Times newspaper that her party lost 60 seats to the Liberal Democrats in the recent election, arguing that the party needs to try to win those back rather than obsessing over the threat of Nigel Farage's Reform party.

Many former Conservative voters also gave their backing to the Labour Party in the recent election.

Therefore, some believe that these "floating voters" are the ones that the Tory party should be targeting, rather than Reform's vote.

Broad coalition

Steve Baker, former Minister of State for Northern Ireland, also believes there is a need to build a "broad coalition".

He rose to prominence during the Brexit years as chair of the euro-sceptic, European Research Group.

Mr Baker has thrown his support behind Tom Tugendhat, believing that the Shadow Security Minister is the most capable of leading the party.

"I think what we've seen in recent years is that an aggressive style leads to failure," he said.

He particularly regrets the acrimony of the Brexit years.

Mr Tugendhat is seen by many as a moderate, one-nation Tory and is somebody who voted remain in 2016.

But he is not a "compromise candidate" according to Steve Baker, who instead believes that Mr Tugendhat can effectively lead the "left" of the conservative party to the "free market right".

Mr Baker is also happy with Mr Tugendhat's position on the European Convention on Human Rights.

Mr Tugendhat believes the UK should seek to reform it in the first instance and leave if that cannot be achieved.

Would Mr Baker be willing to support another leader, though, should his preferred choice not prevail? Yes, he says, adding that he wants to see the party united and striking a more positive tone.

Wooing the membership

While former Tory Prime Ministers like Mrs May and Ms Cameron believe that elections should be fought in the centre-ground, the new leadership candidates know that to secure the top job they have to win over the party membership.

The Conservative membership is known to lean to the right of the political spectrum, and efforts to woo them were evident at the party's conference this week.

Robert Jenrick, once a David Cameron loyalist and remain voter, spoke of ditching the ECHR, and also found himself in hot water after posting a video in which he claimed that the convention was forcing British soldiers to kill rather than arrest terrorists, due to fears that they would be released under human rights rules.

Former army officer, Mr Tugendhat, rubbished the claims and called for the video to be taken down.

Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch, another strong contender, did not shy away from reigniting culture war debates and criticising "wokeism".

She kicked off the conference by writing in the Sunday Telegraph that not all cultures are "equally valid".

There is a theory floating around however, that some of the candidates may be playing to a certain audience for now, and that once the leadership race is over, the winner will then start to focus on winning over the so-called "floating voters" that may have defected to Labour and the Liberal Democrats in the recent election.

That may not be true for all of the leadership candidates but perhaps for some, it is.

When that theory was put to former Mr Baker, he acknowledged that it was a possibility.

Boris in the background

Next week the four leadership contenders will be whittled down to two.

On Thursday, the former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson's new book, "Unleashed", will also be published.

In it he states that that the question around the UK's adherence to the European Court of Human Rights should be put to a referendum.

The last referendum held in the UK was on whether to leave or remain in the European Union, a hugely divisive question.

It is perhaps a reminder to whoever the successful conservative leadership candidate is, that they will have people such as Mr Johnson nipping at their heels.

Many also believe that the next leader will not necessarily be the one that brings the party back to power.

Should that new leader seek to make the party "more normal", they risk pleasing nobody.

However, chasing the Reform voter also leaves them open to the risk that they will be out-done by Mr Farage, who never shies away from controversy.

The best way forward is far from clear and either path is fraught with risk.