Tories downplay ‘plot’ to replace Rishi Sunak with Penny Mordaunt

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Top Tories have hit again at hypothesis insurgent Conservative MPs are plotting to oust Rishi Sunak and replace him as Penny Mordaunt earlier than the final election.

With the Conservatives braced for a bruising set of native elections on 2 May, MPs from throughout the celebration are mentioned to have met to talk about uniting to “coronate” Ms Mordaunt prime minister.

But an ally of Ms Mordaunt, the chief of the House of Commons, denied there was a plot to set up her as Tory chief, describing the plans as “nonsense”.

Meanwhile Tory former minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns, who has publicly backed putting in a brand new chief earlier than the nation goes to the polls, denied that right-wing Tory MPs would unite behind Ms Mordaunt.

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former enterprise secretary, denounced the thought as “madness”.

With many Tories more and more involved about dropping their seats on the election, reviews within the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph steered MPs on the appropriate of the celebration met moderates this week to talk about uniting behind Ms Mordaunt if the prime minister faces a no-confidence vote.

Pressure on the prime minister will solely enhance after 2 May, when the Conservatives may lose swathes of native council seats throughout the nation.

It adopted a troublesome week for Mr Sunak, by which he got here beneath fireplace over his dealing with of racist feedback allegedly made by a serious celebration donor, and the defection of Lee Anderson – who Mr Sunak had promoted to Tory deputy chairman – to the right-wing populist Reform UK celebration.

Ms Mordaunt, who was a contender within the celebration’s management race to replace Boris Johnson in 2022, has not commented on the claims however allies steered she was specializing in her ministerial function.

Ms Jenkyns tweeted: “Interesting to hear lots of media reporting of centre-right Conservative MPs pushing for a certain leadership candidate to replace Rishi.

“Having spoken with lots of my colleagues, no one seems to have heard or been pushing for such a thing!”

Noise about Mr Sunak’s place grew louder in Westminster this week, after Jeremy Hunt’s Budget failed to increase the Tories’ dire polling figures and No 10 struggled to deal with the fallout from Frank Hester’s remarks about MP Diane Abbott, which Mr Sunak ultimately condemned as “racist” after 24 hours of prevarication, whereas nonetheless refusing to return the £10 million the businessman has donated to the Tory celebration.

But a No 10 supply mentioned: “The PM is focused on delivering on his plan to build a brighter Britain.

“The plan is starting to work with inflation down, mortgages down, wages up, the economy forecast to grow and the boats down by a third. But there’s more to be done – that’s what the PM is concentrating on. In contrast Sir Keir Starmer has no plan and would take us back to square one.”

The febrile temper inside Mr Sunak’s ranks got here as he dominated out holding a common election on May 2 to coincide with native elections, having beforehand indicated he’ll ship the nation to the polls within the latter half of 2024.

A rising record of Tory MPs have introduced their exit from Parliament, with armed forces minister James Heappey, ex-party chairman Sir Brandon Lewis and former prime minister Theresa May a few of the most up-to-date additions.

More than 60 Conservatives have up to now mentioned they don’t plan to run, prompting Sir Ed Davey to accuse lots of “running away from the Liberal Democrats because they know that we can beat them in those seats”.

Speaking to the PA information company forward of his celebration’s spring convention in York, the Lib Dem chief expressed optimism about nabbing Conservative constituencies “across the south west of England and across the whole blue wall where it’s a Liberal Democrat-Conservative fight”.

“The response we’re getting is phenomenal. Lifelong Conservatives switching to the Liberal Democrats, which gives us great, great belief that we can beat many Conservative MPs whenever the election comes,” he mentioned.