Exhausted Tories have told plotters to stop trying to oust Rishi Sunak amid fears they will only seal the party’s doom.
Some of the PM’s long-term critics have joined his allies in pleading for colleagues to end the latest bout of bitter infighting.
In a brutal intervention on a Tory WhatsApp group, former minister Jonathan Gullis raged that he is ‘f***ing bored’ of having to explain the ‘psychodrama’ to voters on doorsteps.
Meanwhile, ex-Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg insisted Mr Sunak could not be held ‘personally responsible’ for apocalyptic polls and the party ‘just needs to get on with it’.
He also took aim at those pushing for Penny Mordaunt to take over, saying the idea was ‘inconceivable’.
Mr Sunak is gathering Cabinet this morning as he scrambles to stabilise his premiership following the row over allegedly racist comments by a Tory donor, and the lacklustre response to the Budget.
Allies of Rishi Sunak (pictured on a visit to Coventry yesterday) have joined many of his long-term critics in pleading for colleagues to end the latest bout of bitter infighting.
Jacob Rees-Mogg also took aim at those pushing for Penny Mordaunt (pictured heading for Cabinet today) to take over, saying the idea was ‘inconceivable’
Mr Sunak suffered a double poll blow last night, with Redfield & WiIlton Strategies research showing Labour’s lead up eight points on a week ago
He suffered a double poll blow last night, with Redfield & WiIlton Strategies research showing Labour’s lead up eight points on a week ago, while Deltapoll found the gap had extended to 23 points.
Mr Sunak dismissed the meltdown yesterday, insisting he is ‘not interested’ in Westminster plotting.
Ms Mordaunt has been facing huge pressure publicly to kill off rumours that she is being lined up as a replacement for Mr Sunak, with long-standing suspicions in No10 that the Commons Leader is ‘on manoeuvres’.
Posting on a WhatsApp group for MPs at the weekend, Mr Gullis said there had been enough ‘briefings to destabilise things or undermine the agenda/PM’.
‘I’m f***ing bored of it, I’m working my arse off.. without having to go back and forth on doorsteps about the psychodrama,’ he wrote.
One Tory MP told the Times that the fact 62 MPs have confirmed they are standing down at the election is helping Mr Sunak.
‘One thing that’s protecting him is the sheer number of MPs who are leaving, so they don’t have any interest. It’s a significant faction of the parliamentary party,’ they said.
Sir Jacob, who has often criticised Mr Sunak, also urged plotters to calm down.
‘In defence of Rishi Sunak, it is quite hard for a leader at this stage… to be significantly more popular than his party,’ he told Times Radio.
‘The Conservative Party’s popularity fell before Rishi Sunak’s did, so I don’t think we can hold him personally responsible.’
Former defence secretary Ben Wallace has said it is ‘too late’ to replace Mr Sunak and Tory candidates at the election just had to ‘march towards the sound of the guns’.
Sir Jacob echoed that view: ‘In an election year you need to present to the voters a leader who can be the prime minister for the next parliament. We need to just get on with it, and so I think Ben Wallace’s advice is wise and we should listen to it.’
He told Times Radio the Tories needed to ‘deal with the current situation and not what might have been’, adding: ‘I think Rishi Sunak is an honest, decent and intelligent man who is doing the job effectively.
Home Secretary James Cleverly was among the ministers at the Cabinet meeting this morning
Deltapoll found the gap between Labour and the Tories had extended to 23 points
‘Times at the moment seem to be against him but things have changed before.’
On the prospect of the Commons Leader taking over, Sir Jacob said: ‘Penny Mordaunt is not going to become the leader of the Conservative Party – that idea is inconceivable.’
Cabinet minister Lucy Frazer said Mr Sunak was ‘the right man to lead the country’.
Asked whether Ms Mordaunt would be a good leader, Ms Frazer told BBC Radio 5 Live: ‘We’ve got lots of excellent talent on our benches but the Prime Minister, who I worked with when he was chancellor and obviously I’m in Cabinet with now, I think does an outstanding job.
‘He is full of integrity. He has a plan which will deliver, which is already delivering, and has huge knowledge about the economy…
‘So I think he’s absolutely the right man to lead the country and he has shown he can deliver across the board, but importantly on that key issue, which is the economy.’