What are the Tory renegade conferences and how much of a threat do they pose to Rishi Sunak’s leadership?
On Monday evening, Rishi Sunak attempted to settle the nerves of restless Tory MPs following the party’s drubbing at the local elections.
A garden party – complete with pork pies from his Yorkshire constituency – might not cut the mustard, though.
The loss of more than 1,000 council seats would be enough cause for concern for any Conservative leader and prime minister.
But Mr Sunak has also had to contend with a number of Tory conferences that have been interpreted by some as an undermining of his leadership.
The first, the grassroots Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO), took place in Bournemouth and can be described as a gathering of those loyal to Mr Sunak’s predecessor Boris Johnson.
Set up by backers of the former leader, the new group wants to give party members more power and has been critical of the way Mr Sunak was elected last autumn – describing it as “undemocratic” and a “coronation”.
The second, which began on Monday and is continuing into Wednesday, is the National Conservatism forum, which espouses right-wing, Christian family values and has been inspired by movements in the United States.
Both conferences have lamented the current direction of the Conservative party while emphasising their own remedy for its woes.
But what are these renegade splinter groups and how much of a threat do they pose to Mr Sunak’s leadership? Sky News explains.
Patel says Sunak risks ‘managed decline’
The CDO was set up last December – just months after Mr Sunak assumed the leadership – with a call for Tory members to “take back control” of the party after he was elected without a members’ vote following the chaos of Liz Truss’s resignation.
Key figures include billionaire Conservative donor Lord Cruddas, the party’s former treasurer, who is spearheading the campaign with key Johnson ally and former home secretary Priti Patel.
The group’s aim is to “empower party members and steer its political direction back to the centre-right” following the ousting of Mr Johnson – although even his most enthusiastic supporters have suggested a return for the former prime minister would be highly unlikely.
The group has also expressed anger at Mr Sunak’s “left of centre” position around taxes – who has refused their calls to cut them immediately.
At its meeting at the weekend, the conference heard from the likes of Ms Patel, former culture secretary Nadine Dorries and former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg.
In words that may unnerve Mr Sunak, Ms Patel blamed the “centre of the party” for the Conservatives’ heavy losses in the local elections and said the party “would not have seen over 1,000 of our friends and colleagues lose their seats” if centrists had “spent more time with us, listening, engaging”.
She also told CDO members on Saturday that Mr Sunak needed to offer more “hope and optimism” for Conservatism or he risked being responsible for the “managed decline” of the party and defeat at next year’s general election.
One Tory MP who spoke to Sky News said the CDO was created out of “frustration that members didn’t have a say” on the leadership of the Conservative party.
“Because the PM never won an election of the membership, a lot of the parliamentary party think we need to shape it and will form these groups,” they said.
But asked whether Mr Sunak’s position was under threat, they said: “I don’t think there is any chance of changing prime minister before the next election.”
Read more:
Sunak tries to bring MPs together at garden party
Braverman reignites leadership ambitions with pitch to Tory right
Braverman emerges as main advocate for ‘traditional values’
Perhaps the more controversial of the conferences is the National Conservatism forum – a global, right-wing movement which claims that traditional values are being “undermined and overthrown”.
Its website says that national conservatism is the “best path forward for a democratic world confronted by a rising China abroad and a powerful new Marxism at home”.
US speakers who will feature at the London conference include JD Vance, a right-wing senator who was backed by Donald Trump, and Rod Dreher, an American writer who sympathises with Hungary’s populist leader Viktor Orban.
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Jacob Rees-Mogg’s speech was interrupted by protesters
The conference has already attracted criticism for some of the values its supporters have promoted – including that family is defined as being between a man and a woman only – prompting Downing Street to distance itself from the gathering this morning.
Tory MP Miriam Cates opened the three-day conference in London on Monday with a speech in which she claimed that falling birth rates are “the one overarching threat to British conservatism and indeed the whole of Western society” and that “cultural Marxism” was “destroying our children’s souls”.
If Mr Johnson was centre stage at the CDO conference in Bournemouth, then the star of the show at the National Conservatism forum was Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
Ms Braverman made immigration the central plank of her speech, arguing “it’s not racist” to want control of the UK’s borders.
Her speech has been interpreted as jockeying for the Tory leadership in the event the Conservatives lose the next election, with former cabinet minister Robert Buckland suggesting to Sky News that Ms Braverman should “concentrate on the job” of being the home secretary.
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MPs were asked if Suella Braverman is launching a leadership bid
One Tory watcher told Sky News that the two conferences were not a “serious threat” to Mr Sunak, describing the CDO gathering as a “confused rabble” and the National Conservatism forum as a “flat-pack US conference where Braverman is auditioning for a 2024 bid”.
This in itself is unlikely to trouble Mr Sunak given Ms Braverman’s reputation for openly expressing her views and the fact that, having run for the leadership herself, her ambitions are not a secret.
“The battle is about managed succession not regicide,” they explained.
Until the local elections, Mr Sunak had been praised for steadying the Tory ship – a ship that has now witnessed its first signs of mutiny.
For Mr Sunak, these conferences might serve as a reminder that should he fail to set out an attractive course for the Conservative party, there are plenty of people waiting in the wings who are willing to do it for him.
World
The speed at which Israel ‘took down’ Iranian air defences was ‘shocking’, ex-Mossad intelligence chief claims
A former director of intelligence at Israeli spy agency Mossad has told Sky News it was “shocking” how quickly Israel “took down” Iran’s air defences.
On 13 June, the Israeli military, in an operation called “Rising Lion”, started carrying out aerial attacks on Iran, hitting sites including some of its most important nuclear installations.
Israel said Iran was on the verge of building a nuclear bomb – something Tehran has always denied seeking from its uranium enrichment programme.
Since those air attacks, both countries have been trading daily missile strikes.
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Attacks in Tehran overnight
Live updates: US prepares evacuation flights from Israel
Ex-Mossad boss Zohar Palti told The World With Yalda Hakim that it took his country’s air force 36-48 hours to “dominate completely” the skies above Iran.
“This is shocking in a way. This is amazing,” he said.
He added: “We thought that it would be much harder, you know, because I don’t want to brag or do things like that. I mean, it was much more fast than we anticipated.”
Israeli ceasefire ‘could be in days’
Mr Palti said he believes that in two days to a week, Israel “can call” a ceasefire.
“We will need of course the international community and when I say the international community, it’s basically the Americans in this case and no doubt we will need the support of the E3, meaning the Europeans,” he added.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and points to its right to acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment.
Mr Palti said the Americans have the ability to “take all the [Iranian] regime in a couple of hours”.
He said Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was at a “crossroads” and had two options – “the existence of the regime” or “give up his inspiration right now to build a military nuclear bomb. I think it’s an easy decision”.
Read more:
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Zohar Palti, former Mossad director of intelligence
Some Israeli officials have admitted Israel won’t be able to completely destroy Iran’s nuclear programme, unless US bombers drop ordnance that can penetrate sites buried deep underground.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that any US strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will “result in irreparable damage for them” and that his country would not bow to Donald Trump’s call for surrender.
On Wednesday, President Trump would not say whether he has decided to order an American strike on Iran.
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Supreme leader’s warning to US
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on Monday that Israel’s control of Iranian airspace was “a game-changer”.
And national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said pilots could operate “against countless more targets” over Tehran, thanks to the destruction of “dozens and dozens” of air defence batteries.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In the latest bombing, Israel said its air force destroyed the headquarters of Iran’s internal security service.
World
British survivor of Air India crash carries brother’s coffin after being discharged from hospital
A British man – the sole survivor of the Air India crash in Ahmedabad – has been discharged from hospital, the airline has confirmed.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, has since been seen in video as a pallbearer for the coffin of his brother – one of the 241 people killed in the crash – at a funeral in western India.
At least 30 people also died on the ground as the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner struck a medical college hostel shortly after take-off from the airport in the state of Gujarat on Thursday.
In a statement, Air India said it was “in mourning for the tragic loss” of passengers and crew aboard flight AI171 and is in contact with relatives of those killed, including 52 British nationals.
It said it was working to repatriate the deceased to the UK and other parts of the world, adding: “The sole survivor of the accident, also a British national, has been discharged from hospital.”
“The investigation is ongoing,” it said. “We are cooperating with all parties involved and are committed to sharing verified information and will continue to provide updates wherever we can.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Vishwash Kumar Ramesh in hospital
On flight AI171 to Gatwick, there were 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian among the passengers, along with 12 crew.
The only survivor, Mr Ramesh, was in seat 11A, near the emergency exit. Speaking from his hospital bed on Friday, he said he “still can’t believe” he survived.
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Dozens of anxious family members are waiting to collect the bodies of loved ones as doctors work to gather dental samples and perform DNA profiling to identify victims.
Air India and the Indian government are looking at issues linked to engine thrust, flaps, and why the landing gear remained extended, or in the down position, after take-off.
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Who is the Brit who survived the plane crash?
Both the cockpit voice and flight data recorders, also called black boxes, have been recovered. They will be crucial to the crash investigation, which includes air accident investigators from the UK and US.
India’s aviation safety watchdog has asked Air India for the training records of the pilots and dispatchers, while an inspection of Air India’s 787 fleet did not reveal any major issues.
While there has not been an update on the possible cause of the crash, Indian officials have raised concerns about recent maintenance-related issues reported by the airline and advised the carrier to “strictly adhere to regulations”.
World
Donald Trump’s comments about getting involved in Israel-Iran conflict are raising alarm bells in Moscow
Russia is getting nervous about Donald Trump’s trigger finger, and it shows.
Comments from deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov – warning the US against joining Israel’s military campaign – betray Moscow’s growing unease that it could be about to lose its closest Middle Eastern ally.
Russia has strong ties with Iran, which have deepened since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
These were formalised in a strategic partnership pact the two countries signed at the start of the year.
Israel-Iran conflict – live updates
So, at first, Russia seemed to view its ally’s conflict with Israel as an opportunity to gain leverage. The Kremlin was quick to offer its services as a potential mediator.
If Vladimir Putin could persuade Tehran to back down and return to nuclear talks with Washington, he’d potentially have a favour to cash in with the White House over its military support for Ukraine.
But the offers to mediate fell on deaf ears.
And with Mr Trump threatening to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader, Moscow has switched to crisis mode – fearful of losing its second key regional ally in six months, after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.
So, as well as Ryabkov, other senior figures have taken to the airwaves.
Russia’s spy chief Sergei Naryshkin called the situation “critical”.
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Israel-Iran conflict: Your questions answered
Read more:
Who has been targeted in Iran?
How the conflict escalated
And, according to ministry of foreign affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, the world is “millimetres away from catastrophe” due to Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
It’s quite the spectacle – a country that’s been waging war on its neighbour for more than three years is now urging others to show military restraint.
That’s because US involvement poses serious consequences, not just for Iran, but for Russia too.
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