The former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride has announced his candidacy to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative party leader.

The MP for Central Devon told BBC Breakfast: “I’m fully nominated. I was nominated yesterday morning and my candidacy has gone forward.”

Stride said the Tory party had “substantially lost the trust of the British people” as well as its “reputation for competence”.

He told BBC Breakfast: “What we know from the general election is that we’re in a very, very difficult place as a party, and I worry about that because I care about my party and I care about my country.

“We have substantially lost the trust of the British people and we’ve lost our reputation for competence, and I believe that I’m in a very good position to address those issues going forward. In terms of trust, I think [the party] needs somebody who is going to be able to unite the party.

“People are not going to vote for a party that’s at each other’s throats all the time. I am respected, I think, right across the parliamentary party, I was chair of the Treasury select committee, the leader of the House of Commons, all of those things are roles about bringing people together.”

Stride said Conservatives needed to reorganise the party into a “fighting machine”, adding: “We’ve got elections coming up next year for county councils and so on, and I think I will be well placed to drive that kind of change as well.”