After several weeks of inertia – during which the Labour government has been operating essentially unchecked – the Conservatives have finally sorted out their leadership election timetable. The new leader will be announced on November 2nd. That’s more than 100 days from now, with nominations closing next week, on 29th July…
Guido understands opinion was split on the Conservative Party Board – the organ that signs off a proposed timetable which is then ratified by the 1922 Committee Executive. The chief ‘go long’ argument is the idea of ‘testing’ each candidate thoroughly in the media – even though the main front runners are well known to Tory MPs and members. That only works if the media is properly interested…
Those who argued for a new leader to be in place at conference in October (rather than a month later) submitted that the party simply doesn’t have enough money to sustain the delay – and during the long interregnum, Labour would be able to get away with murder. With Sunak holding the fort until November, the Tories are facing 100 days of irrelevance…
What emerged from the smoke filled rooms is ‘a classic fudge’ according to one MP involved in the deliberations – a long-ish timetable which puts a new leader in place by the end of 2024 but not by conference. Oddly:
As one former Tory minister put it: ‘Did Keir Starmer write this’?
In the first important development for the Tory parliamentary party since the election, yesterday evening saw the election of the 1922 Committee chairman. That descended into bedlam too…
Senior Tories including Mark Francois, Edward Leigh, and Julian Smith found themselves blocked from voting as they were apparently too late at 5:45 p.m. The whips were blamed first for the communication discrepancy, until Tories pulled out an email from committee member Bob Blackman himself specifying that voting would continue until 6 p.m. An email Francois was seen waving angrily at Blackman’s face in Strangers bar…
Francois was raging all of last evening. He said “a lot of Tory MPS were uncomfortable that it was being done in such a mad rush” after getting pummeled at the election and attacked the botched process:
“It’s a really serious matter but you’ve got a bunch (23) of senior Tory MPs who can’t run an election well. We cannot have the man that presides over the rules for electing a new Tory leader elected in a in an election which had a major irregularity.”
Bob Blackman beat the other surviving committee member Geoffrey Clifton-Brown 61 votes to 37. Start as you mean to go on…
UPDATE: Guido hears the Tory WhatsApp groups are popping off over the drama. Simon Hoare, Danny Kruger and Wendy Morton are some of the MPs furious over the mad rush, backing Francois’ points. They’re not happy…
1922 Committee Chair Graham Brady has accidentally said the quiet part out loud: that Tory members are too insane to be allowed pick their leader when the party is in government. Because the parliamentary party has a much better record, not…
Speaking to Durham University students last week, Brady said it was “crazy” that members were able to vote for the governing party’s new leader after MPs issued a vote of no confidence in a Prime Minister. Paying the membership fees and campaigning doesn’t seem to be enough…
Brady’s dismissal of grassroots members as unreliable or uninformed in selecting their leader throws a light on the undemocratic and dismissive approach taken by many establishment Tory MPs. Guido reminds his readers that Cameron and Johnson – the two most successful Tory leaders of the past fourteen years – were elected by party members. By contrast, Sunak and May were installed by MPs only. Surely there won’t be an attempt to exclude members again at the next leadership contest…
Over the weekend, former Tory chair Jake Berry voiced anger from his members at the sacking of Boris. In an interview with The Telegraph, Berry calls the move to defenestrate Boris “insanity”, warning that the party members are “furious”. Given this, they will be even more upset to learn that Boris, in fact, easily cleared the 102 MP threshold after Liz Truss resigned.
We previously reported Boris had squeaked past the requisite backer threshold – to much scepticism from Boris detractors in the media. It now emerges he in fact had 110 – just 47 behind what Rishi had when he pulled out. Speaking on Westminster Hour last night:
“His team asked us to verify that, he had – I think – 110.”
Guido asked a source close to Boris whether this latest figure from Brady was correct, and was told it was. If, as the polls currently show, the Tories lose the next election, the leadership of the opposition will be his for the taking…
It’s been a rough few days for Matt Hancock. If his paintballing pain wasn’t enough, he’s now been given a bruised ego to boot. Matt had joined the crowd of Tories eagerly awaiting their recently-coronated leader, even securing a prime front-row position. After those to either side of Matt received friendly hugs and handshakes, all he could do was watch on as Rishi passed him by.
He will be hoping not to get the same treatment in the forthcoming ri-shuffle…
The amiable young officer from Queensland regulating entry to Committee Room 14 asked if HM’s Press Corps had any questions. “No! We’ve done leadership announcements before,” a sketch-writer said. “Many, many times before.”
Would this be the last for a while? Not if Penny had made the – she’s quit. Word went down the line sparking a wildfire competition. Penny’s dropped. Penniless. Penny’s in heaven. Penny’s Lame.
MPs made a late entry to the big room. Graham Brady and the other top dogs entered through the upper entrance and the gathering stilled. He spoke. “As the Returning Officer in the leadership election, we have received one nomination.” The room rumbled so loudly you couldn’t hear who had won. It had to be inferred.
