Rishi Sunak has “become a prisoner” of those on the right wing of his party “with dangerous views” as he tries to cling to power after calamitous local election results.
The prime minister spent Sunday hunkered down in No 10 after his party lost almost 500 council seats in the local elections, suffered a stunning defeat in the West Midlands mayoral race and a humiliation in London, where Sadiq Khan was easily re-elected.
But details have emerged of how the right of the Tories have already capitalised on Mr Sunak’s weakness and lack of support among Tory MPs who have spent the weekend debating his future behind the scenes.
A meeting in the last fortnight between the prime minister and two grandees from the right – Sir John Hayes and Sir Edward Leigh – saw Mr Sunak being ordered to become more right wing if he wanted to stay as prime minister.
A source told The Independent: “The facts were laid out for the prime minister that he needs to become more conservative.”
Following that meeting, Mr Sunak pushed through his controversial Rwanda bill to allow deportations of asylum seekers to east Africa. He then authorised the filming of asylum seekers being rounded up into the back of vans just ahead of the local elections.
Sir John publicly backed the prime minister to keep his job following the stunt and claimed the images of asylum seekers being rounded up for deportation “ensured that we held on to seats we would have otherwise lost”.
He added: “We need half a dozen more headlines like that and then we can win again.”
It has confirmed the view of Labour that Mr Sunak is now “a prisoner of the right”.
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow paymaster general, said: “Every week there is some new story about Rishi Sunak being pushed around by his own Trussite MPs pressuring him to lurch even further to the right.
“It’s clear he’s nothing but a prisoner to those with the most dangerous views within his party, and he’s simply too weak to say no.
“The British public deserve better than this constant psychodrama under the Tories. Only the changed Labour Party can deliver that.”
But now plans are in place to push the government even further to the right, fuelled by fears of Nigel Farage and Reform UK.
A tweet by Tory chairman Richard Holden seemed to confirm the view that they believe Andy Street lost in the West Midlands because 34,471 votes peeled off to Nigel Farage’s right-wing party.
Mr Holden quoted Reform leader Richard Tice saying: “We stopped Andy Street from winning in the West Midlands. We’re delighted by that.”
The Tory chairman added: “A vote for Reform is a vote to help Labour win. Mr Tice’s own words.”
A senior Tory MP told The Independent that the election results “prove Reform cannot win” but show “they can be wreckers in tight seats for the Conservatives”.
The influential Common Sense Group of right-wing MPs, obsessed with immigration and the culture wars, is now expected to write to Mr Sunak next week calling for an urgent meeting with a list of demands.
Former home secretary Suella Braverman, who is close to Hayes and the Common Sense Group, has already demanded that he bring right-wingers like her back into his cabinet, adopt a policy of leaving the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), and cap legal immigration.
She told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that she now “regretted” supporting Mr Sunak when he ran against Boris Johnson for the leadership but said that “there is no superman or superwoman to replace him now”.
Ms Braverman added: “The plan is not working and I despair at these terrible results.
“I love my country, I care about my party and I want us to win, and I am urging the prime minister to change course, to – with humility – reflect on what voters are telling us, and change the plan and the way that he is communicating and leading us.”
Another right-winger, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, said that Mr Sunak needs to allow Boris Johnson to run for parliament at the next election.
She has put in a letter of no confidence in the prime minister but describes Mr Johnson’s return as “a plan B alternative” to changing leader.
Meanwhile, it is understood that allies of former prime minister Liz Truss, including the Taxpayers Alliance, plan to launch a new push for massive tax cuts tomorrow, pointing out that the tax burden is at an 80-year high.
All this comes as several respected Tory voices have publicly warned Mr Sunak not to “drift to the right”, including defeated West Midlands mayor Andy Street.
Mr Street, who lost to Labour’s Richard Parker by a mere 1,508 votes, was asked by Sky News if picking a new leader from the right would be the wrong idea.
He replied: “Categorically yes! The reason is that in [the West Midlands] this most urban, youngest, most diverse place in Britain, we have come within 1,500 votes of winning.”
Former London minister Paul Scully said he feared that the party is “going full circle back to 1997” when he first joined and it was ideologically right wing but out of power for 13 years before moving to the centre again.
He said: “If we want to govern, we have to govern from the centre. If you look at voters, people are getting older and older before they even think of voting Conservative and that is not sustainable.”
Former Tory MP Phillip Lee who left the party and ultimately joined the Lib Dems over Brexit, warned that Sunak is now “irrelevant” and the Conservative Party is “in danger of being a prisoner of the right”.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
