Sunak’s Deputy Chief of Staff and founder of centrist Tory think tank Onward Will Tanner bagged a rare Tory safe seat, parachuted into Bury St Edmunds & Stowmarket a few weeks ago. Though it appears it’s not going to be the slam-dunk he though it’d be…
Local Tories were furious over Tanner – a prominent Remainer – being selected in the Brexit backing seat, citing dirty tricks from CCHQ and blasting the “fait accompli”. Now it’s coming back to bite him. Guido hears that at a hustings Tanner got booed when he started on about national service, and the Reform candidate threw a copy of the Onward national service policy paper at him. Meanwhile, Tanner’s been messaging Tory activists over fears he may lose the usually safe seat, saying a fresh poll out today puts him behind Labour. Onward and downward…
Sunak’s Deputy Chief of Staff and founder of centrist Tory think tank Onward Will Tanner has bagged a rare Tory safe seat. He was parachuted into Bury St Edmunds & Stowmarket last night – winning by a “landslide“. To much anger from the local Tories…
Local Tories have been complaining about Tanner – a known Remainer – being selected in a seat that voted to leave the EU in 2016 by 54.1%. Tanner has been cleaning up his digital footprint by unliking previously liked tweets on Twitter – one of which wrote in February: “Brexit was always going to fail, forcing the Conservative Party into being the party of Brexit was always going to be a long-term mistake”. Not exactly a representation of the people in Bury…
Apparently the Tory bag carrier had a little help to get selected, having been given a list of names and phone numbers to call Tory members and get them on side. A big help that other candidates are not so lucky to have. One local Tory member tells Guido of their disgust: “Will Tanner has been calling members, we feel it’s a fait accompli…We are not overly happy with any of it”. Not a good start to connecting with your constituents…
Meanwhile other Tory SpAds have been hoping to stay in the political arena after losing their desks in Downing Street. Some have not been so lucky – former serial SpAd Anita Boateng lost out in Epping Forest, as did Cleverly’s SpAd Alice Hopkin in Southend. Other losers are Micheal Gove’s SpAd Henry Newman in Bexhill & Battle and Rishi’s SpAd Declan Lyons in Stratford Upon Avon. Serial applicant Seb Payne is shortlisted Surrey Heath. Tory chairman Richard Holden had to pull out of the selection process in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich last night after facing backlash from local members. Now he’s been shortlisted in Basildon & Billericay – he’ll find out tomorrow whether or not he’s been selected. Time is ticking…
With just 42 days until polling day, parties are scrambling around for candidates to stand in seats. Michael Crick reckons there are around 190 seats with no Tory candidates, while Labour have around 100 vacancies still to fill. New candidates are being announced every few minutes. For Labour, it could be a repeat of the Tory 2019 intake, with down to the wire vetting procedures letting in a few…duds…
With the the election a few weeks away, the Tories will be able to parachute in their favoured candidate in those rare Tory safe seats. Guido has been following the various stitch-ups over the last few weeks. Here are a few Westminster insiders to watch that may be parachuted in by CCHQ:
- Seb Payne.
- Jamie Njoku-Goodwin.
- Will Tanner.
- Alice Hopkin.
- James Forsyth.
- David Goss.
- Emily Sheffield.
- Ed Barker.
- Adam Hawksbee.
- James Price.
Meanwhile, reformed trotskyite hack Paul Mason has lost again – he’s missed out on being shortlisted for Corbyn’s seat in Islington North. The parachute regiment mobilises…
It’s all “carnage” in Stratford-on-Avon. Guido hears within 24 hours of Nadhim Zahawi announcing he was standing down, at least a dozen people contacted the association. Meanwhile many dozens of candidates who applied to neighbouring Bromsgrove and Solihull are said to be jumping across to Stratford in a bid to secure a rare Tory safe seat. Triangle of madness…
Michael Crick released a list of names on Thursday of some of the people eyeing up the seat, including Conservative Way Forward CEO Ed Barker, former Member of the London Assembly Tony Devenish, and David Cameron’s sister-in-law Emily Sheffield. That explains Sheffield’s recent chumocratic appointment to a CCHQ role…
It seems the list was leaked from a WhatsApp group created by the Stratford deputy chairman to convene interested parties. It has apparently already been shut down. Meanwhile, displaced Tory MP Stuart Andrew – thanks to boundary changes – is now due to speak at an event hosted by Stratford Conservatives on 27th June. Another name circulating in the SW1 rumour mill is the Adam Smith Institute’s James Price, ex-staffer to Zahawi, who is said to be considering throwing his hat in the ring. More competition for Downing Street’s Will Tanner…
Last month Guido spotted Will Tanner, the PM’s Deputy Chief of Staff and founder of centrist Tory think tank Onward, snooping around Tory safe seats in Essex. Now it’s been reported that Tanner was a guest speaker at a meeting of Stratford Conservatives yesterday. Michael Crick is saying “Tanner is clearly keen to replace Zahawi” in the Tory safe seat…
Tanner’s antics have sparked outrage among many Tory MPs. They’re furious at the idea that “wet” Tanner could be popped into a rare safe seat. One tells Guido:
“So we all get to lose our seats and Tanner has a run at one of the safest in Stratford? He’s been a big part of the problem and we’ve all found him a nightmare to deal with under Rishi. On crime, on the boats, on legal migration he’s dragged his feet over and over again. It’s rotten and cannot be right”.
Another Tory MP says:
“Normally, outgoing PMs wait until the resignation honours list and stick them in the Lords. Tanner is a well known wet and I’m not sure those of us colleagues left after the election will rush to welcome him too warmly.”
Looks like Tanner is planning to stay in politics after the predicted Tory wipeout…
The weekly tradition of the cross government meeting of Special Advisers (lamely known in the village as ‘SpAd school’) has somehow survived through multiple Tory administrations. The meeting tends to leak when things are going badly. As the Sunak regime winds up, it’s fair to say it’s leaking like a sieve…
Guido is told by several SpAds present at the meetings that Downing Street Chief of Staff Liam Booth-Smith has finally resurfaced to head up the increasingly thinly attended gathering. The chatter is that he had avoided them for six weeks, leaving it up to Deputy Chief of Staff Will Tanner to try and rally the despondent troops…
Guido’s moles complained that both Booth-Smith and Tanner would arrive, list trivial successes of the week like “women in sports announcement from DCMS,” meanwhile ignoring news leading stories such as Lee Anderson defecting to Reform, and thereby “ignore the elephant in the room“. Many in Downing Street and Whitehall are simply going through the motions, having missed the boat on the private sector milk round. Meanwhile, insiders say open tensions between key personalities at the top of the building continue. The shine has come off spadding…
