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Crabb sets out job description for new prime minister

Stephen Crabb MP
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"If you forgive me, I'm going to be late for cabinet" - Stephen Crabb arriving at Downing Street on Monday.

Stephen Crabb has been talking about the Conservative leadership race.

The Preseli Pembrokeshire MP is widely expected to throw his hat into the ring, and has been putting forward

Walking up Whitehall on his way to Monday's cabinet meeting, the work and pensions secretary stopped briefly to talk to the cameras.

"This is a really serious moment for our country," he said. "We need stability, we need direction and what I want to see over the next few days is a candidate emerge who understands the enormity of the situation that we are in, and who has got a clear plan, a clear plan to deliver on the expectations of the 17 million people who voted for Britain to come out of Europe last week; who's got a clear plan for putting together a team who can lead a tough negotiation in Brussels but who's also got a plan for holding this United Kingdom together, and that means, yes, going and working with Nicola Sturgeon and holding onto the Union. Because this isn't just about party unity now, it's about national unity."

Mr Crabb was in a hurry so didn't have time to reveal whether he had anyone in mind, although it's possible his ideal candidate would be a forty something, comprehensive school-educated Scottish-born Welsh MP with a French wife.