Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly has said he would not accept a front-row seat for the next leader of the Conservative Party, due to be announced on Saturday.

Two challengers Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick are expected to make an urgent reshuffle of the senior Tory team.

But Cleverly told the Financial Times he would return to the backbench rather than serve in the shadow cabinet of both candidates.

Wisely, he was ahead in the race to replace Rishi Sunak but was knocked out in a surprise vote by MPs at the beginning of October.

He explained that he was “liberated” from 16 years of service on the political front and that he was currently “in no mood to be squeezed into a narrow group again.”

It’s a smart move among the leadership hopefuls after a well-received speech at the Conservative Party conference in September.

However, his support dropped unexpectedly in the last round as MPs changed their votes to get the final line-up they wanted.

Wisely, he admitted that the result was “a bit of a punch in the gut”; He repeatedly warned his supporters that “the Kremlinology is a stupid game” – but fans continued to ask him who he would prefer to face.

When Badenoch and Jenrick topped the poll, they both hinted they might give him positions in the shadow cabinet if they became leader.

Badenoch said Cleverly’s campaign was “full of energy, ideas and optimism” and he looked forward to “continuing to work with her.”

His rival Jenrick told Cleverly that the party “needs you in the top team for years to come” and added that he would be “happy to serve in the shadow cabinet if he wants”.

Jenrick considered leaving the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) a key part of his leadership bid and said all Tory MPs should agree to the policy, but Cleverly rejected the idea.

But the backbencher job is unlikely to last indefinitely and Cleverly said he would “not rule anything in or out”, leaving the door open to a future bid to become leader of the Conservative Party.

He did not rule out a bid to become Mayor of London in 2028, adding: “We need to fight in London. We need to fight in big, big, big parts of the country.”