Robert Jenrick defended his previous decision to express support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Friday.
In August, the Tory leadership hopeful said: “If I were an American citizen, I would be voting for Donald Trump.”
Pressed over this claim on Sky News on Friday, Jenrick said: “The Conservative party’s sister party in the United States is the Republican party.
“So it’s natural that we would lean in that direction.”
However, he did row back from his previous remarks a little, adding: “But I don’t agree with everything that Donald Trump has said, and I respect Kamala Harris.
“It’s going to be a tight race, I think, in the US.
“Ultimately it’s a decision for the people of the United States. And if I was lucky enough to lead our party, I would work well, I hope constructively, with whoever is president of the US.”
Jenrick is not the only prominent Tory to back Trump ahead of November’s presidential election.
Former PMs Boris Johnson and Liz Truss have already announced their support for their Republican nominee, along with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Jenrick’s remarks comes after Tony Blair warned, who went to war with Iraq in partnership with then US president George W Bush, cautioned UK leaders not to “get involved in American politics”.
The former UK PM said: “It’s complicated enough for Americans without someone from the outside blundering in.”
Jenrick, who came out as the frontrunner in the first ballot of Tory MPs in the Conservative leadership race with 28 votes, also claimed he would not let the contest distract him from “holding Keir Starmer to account”.
Jenrick is up against Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat, Mel Stride and James Cleverly in the bid to become the next Tory leader.