THE former Barrow MP has explained why he thinks the Conservatives fell to a heavy defeat in the general election - and revealed his pick for the next party leader.

Simon Fell, who served as the MP for Barrow and Furness for nearly five years before losing out at the election, said people had 'stopped listening to us'.

And he backed James Cleverly, the former home secretary, to take over from Rishi Sunak and lead the Conservatives. 

Writing on the ConservativeHome website, he said: "Despite a strong record of delivery in seats like Barrow and Furness, by the time the election was called people had stopped listening to us.

"Voters don’t much like politics being forced on them, and I believe that we lost the right to govern in their minds because the news was too much about us, and not nearly enough about how we were going to improve their lives."

The former MP, who served as the Government's anti-fraud champion, suggested how the Conservatives could win back votes.

"We won’t win by aping Reform, and nor will we do so by simply rehashing the language of David Cameron from over a decade ago," he said.

"We need a thoughtful and charismatic leader who can unite the parliamentary party, energise our activists, refresh our policies, and who will hold Labour’s feet to the fire.

"James has the character, drive, and record to do just that."

Six MPs will be running in the three-month-long contest to succeed Mr Sunak - Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel, Mel Stride and Tom Tugendhat.

Mr Fell lost his seat to Labour's Michelle Scrogham, a former mayor of Ulverston.

Reflecting on the loss shortly after the result was declared on July 5, he said:  "I think we bucked the national trend and a good chunk of that is because of what we've been doing for the last four and a half years here, lots of people mentioned it on the door.

"It's very clear lots of people are frustrated by what's been going on in Westminster too."