West Midlands Mayor says new PM must unite party and country

"We need someone now to unite the party and the country after this very divisive time," he stressed.

Mr Street, speaking in Wolverhampton after the launch of the West Midlands Combined Authority's new Plan for Growth, said that Boris Johnson's impact on the West Midlands had been mixed.

"He has done some really important things for the West Midlands. He is the man who drove through HS2 and made levelling up the language, but the last few weeks have been divisive and an uncertain time for the region," he said.

"It is most important that the new Prime Minister puts extra purpose into the levelling up commitment. We were just at the point with the previous Government of seeing real meat; now we want to get that."

Mr Street said the new government had to deliver on providing funding for inward investment, brownfield redevelopment and transport infrastructure.

He has yet to say which of the contenders for Prime Minister he would support.

Margot James, former Stourbridge Conservative MP and minister for digital, culture, media and sport and now executive chairman of Warwick Manufacturing Group, was also at the Wolverhampton event. She said the new leader needed to be a break from the past and said she had been impressed by Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak's early resignations from the Cabinet.

"I've always held them in high regard and my respect for them both has increased. I supported Jeremy Hunt in the last leadership election and my regard for him is absolute," she said.

She said Boris Johnson's decision to go was absolutely right.

"The country and the party can now move forward in a more constructive direction. We need to deliver a new leader of the party through the proper rules and procedures as quickly as they allow.

"I am hoping that will be over the course of the summer. I don't think anything is to be gained by Boris Johnson staying on to the autumn.

"I hope a new leader is firmly in place by the party conference season," she said.

She said there had to be an end to misleading MPs and the media when things went wrong and the new leader had to have complete respect for the rule of law and the importance of Parliament in the democratic processes.

"I think it is time for the Conservative Party, of which I am still a member, to adopt a certain degree of humility and be prepared to work with other parties to get this country through the greatest challenge it has faced since the 1970s," she added.