All posts tagged: Graham Brady

Rishi Sunak’s moment of maximum danger just arrived – POLITICO

Rishi Sunak’s moment of maximum danger just arrived – POLITICO

The lack of a clear-cut replacement for Sunak is cooling the odds of a revolt, but there’s no shortage of would-be contenders who have been flaunting their wares. There are the critics who resigned from Sunak’s government: Suella Braverman, who quit as Sunak’s home secretary, and Robert Jenrick, who left his job as immigration minister. There are also those biding their time a little more quietly, like another former Home Secretary Priti Patel. And then there are those still serving in Sunak’s Cabinet: Kemi Badenoch, Grant Shapps, James Cleverly and Penny Mordaunt. ‘Think about your colleagues‘ The likelihood of any boost for the Tories following a change in leader also seems slim. Opinium research suggests that out of four contenders polled, Braverman, Badenoch and Cleverly would all fare even worse than Sunak at a general election. Only Mordaunt saw any kind of uptick — and that was a marginal one that still put the Tories on course for a major defeat. Only Penny Mordaunt saw any kind of uptick — and that was a marginal …

Senior Tory Says ‘Crazy’ Way Conservatives Choose PMs Needs To Change

Senior Tory Says ‘Crazy’ Way Conservatives Choose PMs Needs To Change

A senior Tory backbencher has called for the Conservatives to change how it selects new leaders when the party is in government. As chair of the backbench 1922 committee, Graham Brady is the one who receives letters of no confidence from other Tory MPs wishing to oust their leader. He has been in the role throughout the last few years, as the party – and the country – has been led by Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Brady told students at Durham University last Thursday that if a Conservative PM leave office, MPs should decide who takes their place. At the moment, grassroots Conservative organisations can choose their successor. That is how Truss first got into office, even though Sunak had more support from MPs. In a recording leaked to The Telegraph this week, Brady said it was “crazy” Tory members could choose a prime minister. He pointed back to former Tory leader Lord Hague’s reform to the selection process in 1997. He changed the process so Tory MPs choose two potential contenders …

Tory MPs are hooked on plotting against their leaders – POLITICO

Tory MPs are hooked on plotting against their leaders – POLITICO

“There have been so many turnovers of leadership, and so many kind of assassinations that everyone is complicit,” former Conservative Chancellor George Osborne said on his podcast earlier this month. “If you were a Boris Johnson supporter, you’d say Sunak is an assassin, Sunak led a coup. Or if you were Simon Clarke, you’d say Sunak was unhelpful in the bringing down of Liz Truss,” Osborne added, referencing Truss ally Clarke’s recent call for Sunak to go for the good of the party. “There’s been years now of this, so it’s very hard for the leadership to call for unity when they themselves became the leaders on the back of a coup,” Osborne observed.  The Plot Some of the prime minister’s most staunch opponents certainly feel motivated by what they see as his deeply disloyal resignation as Johnson’s chief finance minister back in 2022. It helped set the herd in motion with a mass ministerial walk-out that ended Johnson’s time at the top.  “I will never forgive [Sunak] for basically putting personal ambition before country,” …