Dominic Raab has brushed off claims in multiple papers this morning that some Tory MPs have sent leadership challenge demands to 1922 chairman Graham Brady. Speaking to Nick Ferrari this morning, he denied knowing any of the supposed MPs involved. Playing down the claims as “usual Westminster tittle-tattle”:

“There’ll always be the scrutiny, the noisiness that comes with British politics, frankly, overwhelming – and I talk to colleagues, MPs on the backbenches – there is huge support for what we and the PM are doing.”

Raab also claimed the Tories only just being behind in the polls “at this stage of the electoral cycle” is “testament to all the work we’ve been doing and there’s huge credit still to the boss and the government for the vaccine roll-out.”

Both The Telegraph and The Sun carry the story today, claiming letters have been sent to Brady – who needs 15% of Tory MPs (54) to submit letters of no confidence. While The Telegraph is more subdued, writing that one whip believes “some” letters have been submitted, The Sun goes as far as saying the number is around 12.

As everyone knows, unless the Telegraph and The Sun’s sources are the MPs who’ve written letters themselves – Graham Brady doesn’t tell anyone the total amount of letters he’s received, not even the PM – this is all pure speculation. Persistent criticism has been made of Mark Spencer and No. 10 advisors, however Tory MPs still sound overwhelmingly grateful to Boris for 2019 when speaking to Guido.