Northern Research Group chair Jake Berry said to be considering bid for Conservative leadership

Jake Berry, chair of the Northern Research Group, is being urged by northern colleagues to have a run at the top job following Boris Johnson’s announcement this morning that he will step down.

Allies have said the former minister “gets what matters” and is the only person to have “actually offered policies.”

He is thought to be considering a campaign on a “new deal for Britain” platform, which according to one NRG source will be a plan to “unify every region, and ensure that the government is seen to be on the side of hard working Britons.”

The news comes just weeks after the first NRG conference in which Mr Berry called on government colleagues to deliver on their levelling up promises.

A source close to Mr Berry said: “He appeals to people because he gets what matters. He is the only well known member of the party who has actually offered policies.”

The race for the leadership will ramp up in the coming days, with Attorney General Suella Braverman having already announced her intention to stand.

Other candidates are thought to include two former Health Secretaries, Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid, and Richmond MP and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak.