A “FLURRY” of no confidence letters in Rishi Sunak have reportedly been submitted to the chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 committee.
Sunak has held a private meeting with Graham Brady amid concerns from a growing number of MPs about the direction of the party as the General Election approaches.
The lack of a vote-winning policy in the Spring Budget is thought to have angered a number of MPs and Tory sources have told the i Paper this has caused some to submit letters in the last few days.
A number of senior Tory MPs have also told the Financial Times Sunak needs to get a grip of his Downing Street operation.
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There is no knowing how many letters have actually been sent but if a threshold of 53 – 15% of Tory MPs – was reached, Brady would have to make an announcement.
Brady and No10 have both declined to comment on the meeting.
Sunak has come under pressure this week to return more than £10 million of donations from businessman Frank Hester who is reported to have said that looking at Diane Abbott, Britain’s first black female MP, made “you just want to hate all black women”.
Downing Street has finally called the comments “racist and wrong” after initially refusing to do so.
Sunak has also been dealing with the defection of Lee Anderson to Reform UK, something which has riled the right of the party.
Conservative MPs said last week’s “lacklustre” Budget did not “move the dial” for the party in the opinion polls and that this had compelled some to submit a letter.
A Tory source, close to those who have been plotting to remove Sunak, told the i Paper a “flurry” of letters of no confidence in single figures had been sent to Brady in recent days.
A former minister, who is not affiliated to that plot, said: “This was not a Budget for a General Election. Nobody is talking about a May election anymore. For the first time last week I heard a colleague saying: ‘I wonder when people will start putting letters in.’ That is starting.
“All this talk of ‘you cannot possibly change a leader now so close to an election’ is not true. I think many people are starting to realise this.”
The MP added he believed there was talk of someone stepping down so Boris Johnson could run in a by-election.
Calling Sunak “mediocre”, he added: “When people talk about a change of leader [before the election], they are not thinking about anyone else but Boris. Boris could be our last chance.”
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