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Lord Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor of Teesside, is next up on the programme after meeting Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street alongside the other metro mayors.

He praises Sir Keir for doing this early in his tenure as it is something other leaders have not done.

The mayor says that, from his experience, he sees the prime minister has got a “large mandate”.

“He’s got such a big majority that I don’t think he’s going to be frightened, certainly in the early days, of taking on some of the factions and some of the people within his own party to be able to deliver on the promises he made during the election,” Lord Houchen said.

The mayor is also asked about why his party lost so much support at the general election.

Lord Houchen says the country supported the Tories for a decade but then backed away following the “infighting, U-turns and a party that lost its sense of direction as a government” between 2019 and 2024.

He says it would not have mattered what campaign was run – people would have voted against the Conservatives regardless.

Moving on to the party’s next leader, Lord Houchen says he doesn’t know who he will support.

But he says the party roughly knows who will stand – including potentially a couple of “wildcards” that aren’t well known.

The mayor says he wants to see someone who cares about public service, and also someone who can be fresh, new and set out some clear ideas.

He is asked by Trevor if he is a “radical centrist” – a label Tory leader hopeful Suella Braverman has used. 

Lord Houchen says he hopes not – and that he will ask her the next time he sees her.