Tory minister asked whether she could submit no confidence letter after PM announced election, Sky News understands
A minister asked a meeting of Tory MPs whether it was still possible to submit a letter of no confidence in the prime minister after he announced the election, Sky News understands.
Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby revealed in her Electoral Dysfunction podcast that health minister Dame Andrea Leadsom made the query at the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs yesterday.
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Dame Andrea declined to comment when contacted by Sky News, saying “1922 Committee meetings are private”.
Dame Andrea Leadsom is a health minister. Pic: PA
Hours after Rishi Sunak announced there would be an election on 4 July, Beth Rigby reported there were considerable discussions on Conservative WhatsApp groups about whether there was still a route to stop a general election.
She told the podcast MPs are “really unhappy” with the timing of the vote, with some texting her saying it was “absolute madness”.
One minister, she says, told her the letters were already going in again for a vote of no confidence in the PM, indicating the election was called “from a position of weakness”.
Read more:
Why Sunak may have decided to call election now
Kay’s About! Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher booted off MNF set
A six-week race for the keys to Number 10
Meanwhile, former leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson criticised those plotting against the prime minister.
“This group of people are being such paper tigers,” she told the podcast.
“At any other point that they could have stepped in to really do something, to think they can now do a rear-guard action to stop a general election once Pandora is out of the bloody box.”
Campaigning kicked off on Thursday, with the prime minister embarking on a two-day tour of the four nations.
Email Beth, Ruth, and Jess at electoraldysfunction@sky.uk, Tweet Beth @BethRigby, or send a WhatsApp voice note on 07934 200 444.
The European elections have formed a new EU Parliament that will rule for the next five years.
Politics
General election: Nigel Farage ‘terrorising’ Tories and Rishi Sunak too afraid, says Lord Mandelson
Nigel Farage is “terrorising” the Conservative Party and Rishi Sunak is afraid to take him on, Labour grandee Lord Mandelson has told Sky News.
The former cabinet minister and spin-doctor, who masterminded Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide win, argued the job of the Tory leader should be to stand up to Mr Farage and Reform UK rather than seeking to appease them.
Trying to outflank Mr Farage had only served to embolden the maverick politician and make him stronger, the peer said as he appeared on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.
The decision of the former UKIP leader to contest a Tory-held seat at the election and take the reins at Reform UK has exacerbated Mr Sunak’s electoral woes, threatening to split the vote and the party.
Fresh polls gave an even bleaker outlook for the Conservatives, with one indicating the party on course to pick up just 72 seats.
A separate survey on Thursday night put Reform ahead of the Tories for the first time with 19% of the vote, compared with 18% for the Conservatives.
It led Mr Farage, who is set to launch Reform’s manifesto on Monday, declare his party was now the opposition to Labour.
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Conservatives: We’re fighting for every vote
Meanwhile, cabinet minister Mark Harper has repeated his party’s warning that a vote for Reform UK would give Labour “a very large majority” and a “blank cheque” in office.
As well as failing to distance himself from his predecessors – Boris Johnson and Liz Truss – Mr Sunak had made an error in vying to “outflank” Reform UK, argued Lord Mandelson.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The peer said: “He’s doing so by appeasing them, by sort of throwing red meat, to Farage, which is not outflanking him. It’s just making him bolder. It’s just making him, frankly, stronger than Sunak. And therefore the tactics, the strategy has been got wrong, in my view, by Sunak, right from the beginning.
“But I think the reason he doesn’t take on Farage is because he sees him as a stronger politician and frankly, he’s afraid to take him on.”
Read more on Sky News:
Tories heading for ‘warfare’, Farage predicts
How much would a Labour government change football?
Eyewitness: Behind the scenes of covering the election campaign
On Mr Farage himself, Lord Mandelson said: “I think he terrifies the Conservative Party. I mean, he terrified David Cameron into conceding a referendum on our membership of the European Union, and now he’s doing the same, to Sunak. He terrorises them.
“Now you, you’ve got to stand up to terrorists you know, in this world and including in, in British domestic politics.”
👉 Click here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts 👈
He added: “But Farage is an effective politician. There’s no point in denying it. He has a clear message. It’s not one that I happen to agree with in any respect at all.
“I think that Farage is much better at, you know, taking people down and destroying things than he is in offering a constructive, clear alternative.
“But be that as it may, the job of the leader of the Conservative Party is to take that on and show an alternative to the right, not to appease it.”
He later clarified: “I’m not saying he’s literally a terrorist. I’m saying he’s terrorising the Conservative Party.”
Politics
General election: Nigel Farage ‘terrorising’ Tories and Rishi Sunak too afraid, says Lord Mandelson
Nigel Farage is “terrorising” the Conservative Party and Rishi Sunak is afraid to take him on, Labour grandee Lord Mandelson has told Sky News.
The former cabinet minister and spin-doctor, who masterminded Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide win, argued the job of the Tory leader should be to stand up to Mr Farage and Reform UK rather than seeking to appease them.
Trying to outflank Mr Farage had only served to embolden the maverick politician and make him stronger, the peer said as he appeared on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.
The decision of the former UKIP leader to contest a Tory-held seat at the election and take the reins at Reform UK has exacerbated Mr Sunak’s electoral woes, threatening to split the vote and the party.
Fresh polls gave an even bleaker outlook for the Conservatives, with one indicating the party on course to pick up just 72 seats.
A separate survey on Thursday night put Reform ahead of the Tories for the first time with 19% of the vote, compared with 18% for the Conservatives.
It led Mr Farage, who is set to launch Reform’s manifesto on Monday, declare his party was now the opposition to Labour.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Conservatives: We’re fighting for every vote
Meanwhile, cabinet minister Mark Harper has repeated his party’s warning that a vote for Reform UK would give Labour “a very large majority” and a “blank cheque” in office.
As well as failing to distance himself from his predecessors – Boris Johnson and Liz Truss – Mr Sunak had made an error in vying to “outflank” Reform UK, argued Lord Mandelson.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The peer said: “He’s doing so by appeasing them, by sort of throwing red meat, to Farage, which is not outflanking him. It’s just making him bolder. It’s just making him, frankly, stronger than Sunak. And therefore the tactics, the strategy has been got wrong, in my view, by Sunak, right from the beginning.
“But I think the reason he doesn’t take on Farage is because he sees him as a stronger politician and frankly, he’s afraid to take him on.”
Read more on Sky News:
Tories heading for ‘warfare’, Farage predicts
How much would a Labour government change football?
Eyewitness: Behind the scenes of covering the election campaign
On Mr Farage himself, Lord Mandelson said: “I think he terrifies the Conservative Party. I mean, he terrified David Cameron into conceding a referendum on our membership of the European Union, and now he’s doing the same, to Sunak. He terrorises them.
“Now you, you’ve got to stand up to terrorists you know, in this world and including in, in British domestic politics.”
👉 Click here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts 👈
He added: “But Farage is an effective politician. There’s no point in denying it. He has a clear message. It’s not one that I happen to agree with in any respect at all.
“I think that Farage is much better at, you know, taking people down and destroying things than he is in offering a constructive, clear alternative.
“But be that as it may, the job of the leader of the Conservative Party is to take that on and show an alternative to the right, not to appease it.”
He later clarified: “I’m not saying he’s literally a terrorist. I’m saying he’s terrorising the Conservative Party.”
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