Team Blitz India
LONDON: Downing Street received some respite as one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s most vocal Tory critics conceded that it was “unlikely” for right-wing rebels to gather enough support to overthrow him.
Tory scheme to oust Sunak has largely fizzled out despite significant election setbacks. After four months of agitation against the Prime Minister, the Tory plotters finally acknowledged defeat. A small faction of right-wing Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) and former advisers admitted that Houchen’s victory, the Tory symbol for levelling up, had solidified Sunak’s position despite the party’s substantial losses in council elections across England.
Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the first Tory MP to publicly advocate for Sunak’s removal last November, told the BBC on May 3 that it appeared “unlikely” for the Prime Minister to face a vote of no confidence, as 52 MPs must submit letters to trigger such a vote.
Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, a staunch ally of Boris Johnson and another vocal critic of Sunak, rejected the notion of replacing the Prime Minister before the general election, describing it as “madness” during an ITV interview. Her stance countered a warning by former Tory cabinet minister Justine Greening, who cautioned on Sky News that Sunak remained vulnerable. “I think a lot of MPs will take the bank holiday weekend to consider what these results mean in their own communities and for them personally,” she remarked.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the former Tory Chancellor, expressed his personal disapproval of any proposal to replace Sunak but acknowledged that some colleagues “might well think, actually, we might as well roll the dice with a new leader.” He also highlighted that the local elections demonstrated that “there’s no such thing really as a safe Tory seat anymore.”
