Former MP and newly-appointed peer Craig Mackinlay predicts the new leader of the Conservative Party will be a right winger.

Speaking in a special edition of the Kent Politics Podcast, the soon-to-be Lord Mackinlay of Richborough said he cannot offer a guess at who might win among the six contenders who have put their names forward.

But the Tory believes the final two will comprise a centrist and a right winger and the latter will appeal to the party membership, who have the final say.

Among the six aiming to become leader of the opposition is Tonbridge MP Tom Tugendhat who previously stood to be party leader.

Lord Mackinlay speaks at length about his battle recovering from sepsis which nearly killed him and left him a multiple amputee.

He says that Rishi Sunak - who was one of three Prime Ministers (Boris Johnson and Liz Truss were the others) to visit him in hospital - was wrong to call a summer election.

And the former MP says the party did not see the threat of Reform UK coming.

Lord Mackinlay, whose roots are in the Medway Towns, said he hopes his profile as a peer will enable him to campaign for better NHS prosthetics and raise awareness of the symptoms of sepsis.

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