Rishi’s had a hard start to 2024. Rebellions, resignations and damning polls, though he might be cheered up today to see that most Tory voters seem to think he’s the best of a bad bunch. Take the small wins…
Ipsos released a poll last night that showed there were “no obvious alternatives” to Rishi as leader. Happy reading for Rishi as 42% of 2019 Tory voters had a favourable view of him, similar to Boris Johnson’s ratings. Meanwhile Jeremy Hunt is trailing on 38%, James Cleverly on 28% and Nigel Farage was virtually neck-in-neck with Sunak. It does say something about the party’s talent pool…
Back in 2012, Guido surfaced a series of revelations about a Tory councillor in Wandsworth, Robert Morritt, who was subsequently expelled after fiddling expenses and fraudulently conning the local Tories out of over £50,000. Guido can reveal that a decade later the fraudster is back with a bang…
The Wandsworth Conservatives formed a group with the Wimbledon Conservatives around a decade ago, which have sub associations including Battersea, Tooting, and Putney. These Tory associations under the Wandsworth Conservatives have shared offices and management of money. Morritt, though not a councillor, is the Chair of the Putney Association and has been for a year. Now he is campaigning to have total control of the Putney Association and its finances…
Next Monday, Morritt is holding a meeting to convince the Putney Tory Association to branch away from the Wandsworth Conservatives, meaning he will be in total control of finances and the association. If voted in favour, which local Tories expect, then our man might return to swindling scene once again. Putney Tory candidate Lee Roberts should rethink its cheques and balances…
Ex-Chief Secretary to the Treasury and senior Tory MP Simon Clarke dropped a bombshell op-ed in The Telegraph last night calling to “replace Sunak as PM or face a decade of decline”. Now two Tory MPs have declared they’ve submitted no-confidence letters and that’s just those who’ve publicly said so…
To have a sixth Prime Minister in 14 years and just before an election is probably not what it would take to turn around the dismal polls. Priti Patel called the op-ed “facile and divisive”, and David Davis said it was “silly” MPs are “putting their own leadership ambitions” first. Meanwhile, Clarke has joined the new Tory right group PopCon, making a keynote speech at its launch in February. As his piece was published, the rest of the group (along with some expected names Guido spotted such as Chris Philp, Brendan Clarke-Smith, and even former IEA Director General Mark Littlewood) were having a dinner at Nadine Dorries’ favourite club, 5 Hertford Street, and so far it looks like Clarke has upset them all too. Liz Truss and other PopConners have made it clear they don’t back his intervention. Still, it’s a dire situation for Number 10…
Latest ads from the Tories, spotted by James Heale, now have an option to create your own “personalised message” from Rishi Sunak. All you have to do is sign up your name, email address, town and what issue matters most to you. That’s certainly one way to gather a bunch of data…
Guido decided he should do one on behalf of Nigel Farage. After wishing Nigel a happy New Year, Rishi goes on to say “like you, I think immigration levels are too high”. Touching…
Nigel tells Guido:
“I’m glad Rishi says he is finally taking my concerns seriously, but I think it’s going to take a bit more than a personalised video message to Stop the Boats”.
Guido can confirm that none of this is AI, meaning Rishi has literally filmed all different versions of the video and has recorded himself saying various different names. It must have been a busy few days…
Guido can reveal that the Tory neoliberal right are launching a new group, this time called “Popular Conservatism” A.K.A. “PopCon“. Launch invites to MPs, members and activists will be sent out this morning. The group is branding themselves as “a new movement aiming to restore democratic accountability to Britain and deliver popular conservative policies.” Speakers at its launch include Liz Truss, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Simon Clarke, and Ranil Jayawardena. The group insists it’s neither a sixth “family” or a rebrand of the Conservative Growth Group, instead pushing to cut ties with quangos like the OBR and Blairite legal devices such as the Equalities Act. Sound ideas…
The launch date will be on 6th of February and co-conspirators can apply for tickets here. We’ll see if it’s popular by name, popular by nature…
While Rishi may have been able to stave off a Tory rebellion at the Rwanda bill’s third reading, it looks like getting the rest of the country’s support will be a trickier feat. Only half an hour after the vote last night, a YouGov poll dropped, putting the Tories at just 20%, a whopping 27 points behind Labour. The lowest ratings since Liz Truss was PM, just before the lettuce outlasted her…
Reform UK is polled at 12%, sending more alarm bells to CCHQ as 2019 Tory voters defect to the former Brexit Party. Despite Rishi managing to sail through the Safety of Rwanda bill, 54% of 2019 Tory voters think Nigel Farage would be better at handling immigration, compared to only 35% who trust the PM. Rishi’s set to host a press conference this morning where he’ll no doubt gloat about last night’s Commons success. Now he just has to actually get the flights off the ground by Spring…
